Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail)
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519. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for an update on an application for Irish citizenship (details supplied); and if he will expedite same. [24762/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The application referred to by the Deputy has been received by my Department.

When an application for a certificate of naturalisation is received by the Citizenship Division of my Department, they are subject to an initial check and examination.

On completion of the initial checks, my Department will assign an application number and issue an acknowledgment to the address given at the time of making the application. I am assured that this application will undergo this initial check and examination process shortly.

I am deeply conscious of how important the granting of naturalisation is to those who apply for it and my Department has continued to accept and process citizenship applications throughout the pandemic and during all levels of public health restrictions.

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 the freeing up of more staff to focus on processing applications in a timely and efficient manner, improving service to our customers and reduction of waiting times.

In early 2023, a registration unit was established within Citizenship Division to ensure applications are registered and acknowledged promptly. In 2022 it took on average seven months for this part of the process to be completed. Under the new system it has been reduced to a matter of weeks.

These measures are designed to give certainty to customers that their applications have been received and have begun to be processed.