Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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32. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade when a decision will be made on a foreign birth register application (details supplied); the reason for the delay in processing the application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8240/24]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR or Naturalisation.

Foreign Birth Registration, by its nature, is a detailed and complex process, often involving official documentation relating to three generations and issued by several jurisdictions. Such documents take considerable time to validate.

FBR applications are currently being processed within the normal turnaround time of 8-9 months from receipt of all required supporting documents, a decrease in turnaround time of 75% from over two and a half years in 2022. Applications that require further supporting documents will take longer to process.

With regard to the specific Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) application about which the Deputy has enquired, the Passport Service requested further supporting documents from the applicant on 18 October 2023. Further documents were subsequently received on 12 December and were processed. However, the application remains incomplete. A member of the FBR team has contacted the applicant’s parent in this regard. The application cannot proceed until all required supporting documents have been received by the Passport Service.