Paul McAuliffe (Dublin North West, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

314. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for citizenship currently being processed; the countries of origin of the applicants; and the number of applicants from each country, in tabular form. [18840/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

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.

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

There are currently 30,619 applications on hand and the table below details the top 25 nationalities accounting for 23,898 (78%) of all current applications. The remaining 6,721 applications are applicants from 147 different countries.

There are ongoing developments and improvements being made to the citizenship application process. Significant reforms have been introduced for customers to streamline 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. Since this initiative went live, a preliminary review of applications received indicates that the quality of the applications has markedly improved.

This development builds on other innovative measures introduced in the application process, including the deployment of “Tara” the e-chat bot, as well as 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.