Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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515. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current waiting times for citizenship applications by EEA and non-EEA applicants, in tabular form. [62138/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I am deeply conscious of how important the granting of naturalisation is to those who apply for it and my Department continued to accept and process citizenship applications throughout the pandemic and during all levels of public health restrictions.

All naturalisation applications, whether they are made by EEA or Non-EEA applicants are processed in chronological order on date received and in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended. There are no provisions to apply different criteria depending on the nationality of the applicant. All applicants are required to meet minimum periods of reckonable residence and standard checks are carried out as part of the overall process to maintain its integrity.

The Citizenship Division receives approximately 1,000 applications per month and utilises the resources available to maximise processing and reduce waiting times. For a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process. In some instances, completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time. The current median processing time for naturalisation applications is 19 months.

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

There are ongoing developments and improvements being made to the Citizenship application process. Significant changes have been introduced for customers regarding the number of proofs required to establish their identity and residency as part of the 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.

Sorca Clarke (Longford-Westmeath, Sinn Fein)
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516. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a decision can be expected on an application by a person (details supplied) for citizenship. [62156/22]

Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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The naturalisation application from the persons referred to by the Deputy continue to be processed by my Department, with a view to establishing whether the applicants meet the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation. The applications will be submitted to me for decision in due course.

The granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and an honour which confers certain rights and entitlements not only within the State but also at European Union level and it is important that appropriate procedures are in place to preserve the integrity of the process.

It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay. However, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process. In some instances, completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time.

Applications are processed in chronological order by date received. Due to the high volume of applications currently on hand, regrettably, the median time for processing applications is 19 months.

However, my Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have also been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including eTax clearance, eVetting and online payments. The end result of the digitisation process will be to free up more staff to focus on processing applications in a timely and efficient manner, to improve service to our customers and reduce waiting times.

In 2021, my Department issued 11,512 citizenship decisions, which is the highest number of decisions made since 2015, and reflects positively the significant changes undertaken to date.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.