Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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556. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for Irish citizenship received by INIS in each month from January to November 2023, inclusive; the number therein of those applications in each month where acknowledgement letters have issued to the applicant, in tabular form; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [54905/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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In October 2023 my Department moved from a paper based citizenship application process to an online application form. This is one of a number of measures introduced in an effort to optimise the application process and enhance the overall customer service experience.

As part of the new online process customers are issued with an acknowledgment on submission of their online application. The forms provide a seamless application process and help guide for applicants that details what is required for an application.

At present my Department is registering paper applications received in September. Citizenship applications are being registered based on chronological order of the date received. Once the outstanding paper applications are exhausted, Citizenship Division will then process all applications digitally.

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, thereby improving service to our customers and reduction of waiting time.

To date 20,650 applications have been received this compares with 17,189 in 2022 and 11,974 in 2021.

The below table outlines the number of naturalisation applications that Citizenship Division have received this year.

*May be subject to slight variance following data cleansing.