Colm Burke (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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490. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if consideration will be given to assigning additional staff to the citizenship division in her Department given that there is a three-month delay in acknowledging receipt of applications and over 20 months before a decision is made; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [61779/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The staffing levels in the Citizenship Division of my Department are kept under review in line with the business needs of the Division.

Unfortunately due to unprecedented demand, and the ongoing legacy of the pandemic, processing times have been extended. I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants and my Citizenship division has been working hard to clear backlogs.

The Citizenship Division receives approximately 1,000 applications per month and utilises the resources available to maximise processing and reduce waiting times.

This year the division has issued naturalisation certificates in respect of 13,583 applicants including 2,549 decisions on minor applications. This is a 18% increase on the 11,512 issued in 2021.

The Justice Plan for 2022 commits to developing a fully digital, customer-centric immigration service and to enhance the efficiency of our immigration system.

Significant changes have been introduced for customers regarding the number of proofs required to establish their identity and residency as part of the Citizenship application process. A new scorecard was introduced to help applicants to complete their applications with greater certainty than before. Since the go-live of the scorecards, a preliminary review of applications received indicates that the quality of the applications has markedly improved.

This is a welcome development and builds on other innovative measures introduced in the citizenship application process, including the deployment of “Tara” the e-chat bot, e-payments, e-tax clearance and Gardaí e-vetting, and the removal of the requirement to provide the original passport when making an application, all of which have positively enhanced the applicant's experience.