Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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408. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a person (details supplied) might expect an outcome regarding an application for naturalisation in the case of his son; if all the details requested have been received in his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24002/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy continues to be processed by my Department.

A request to complete eVetting was sent to the person concerned on 24 March 2023. This request was not completed and has now since expired. Citizenship Division will re-issue the eVetting link again to the person in the coming days.

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.

I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants and my Department has been working hard to clear backlogs.

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.

My Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including 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.

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.