Michael McNamara (Clare, Independent)
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591. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of occasions that the single person committee of inquiry advised to disclose partial disclosure or full disclosure, respectively, since September 2020; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [59395/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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To date, the Single Process Committee has considered the following number of reports:

- 3 x applications referred to SPC (2 of which have been reviewed with a report submitted to me and 1 application is currently pending).

- 4 x applications were submitted to SPC but have subsequently been withdrawn.

Given the small number of cases and in order to protect the identity of the individuals concerned it would not be appropriate to release the details of the recommendations.

The Single Person Committee (SPC) process was established by My Department to aid in the consideration of naturalisation applications where concerns of a national security nature have been raised.

The Single Person Committee (SPC) examines these cases and reports to me with a recommendation to:

- Release the relevant information

- Partially release the information

- Not release the information

- Release the “gist” of the information (in line with the court recommendation that led to this process).

Following an operational review of the process, where appropriate, an intention to refuse letter is issued where national security concerns arise. It is outlined to the applicant the grounds for the intended refusal and the applicant is informed of the option of invoking the SPC process. The Terms of Reference of the Single Process Committee have been amended to reflect this change and are posted to the Immigration Services website and are available here: www.irishimmigration.ie/the-establishment-of-the-single-person-committee-of-inquiry/