Ruairi Ó Murchú (Louth, Sinn Fein)
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1145. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current processing times for citizenship applications to include the categories for EU nationals, international applicants and applications based on marriage to an Irish citizen; the additional resources that are being allocated to this section of his Department to reduce these processing times; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2103/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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All naturalisation applications, whether they are made by EEA or Non-EEA applicants, spouses of Irish Nationals or declared refugees, 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 or the individual circumstances 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.

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. In order to reduce processing times 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.

In 2022 there were 13,613 Certificates of Naturalisation issued including 1,719 in respect of minor applicants. This represents a 39% increase on the number of certificates issued for 2021 (9,780) and demonstrates the Departments commitment to processing applications in a timely manner.