Written answers
Tuesday, 5 March 2024
Department of Justice and Equality
Naturalisation Applications
Steven Matthews (Wicklow, Green Party)
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463. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if her attention has been drawn to recently naturalised Irish citizens being prevented from registering to vote due to delays in receiving their certificates of naturalisation; if she is concerned about this barrier to participation in the democratic process; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11224/24]
John Brady (Wicklow, Sinn Fein)
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476. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when attendees of the citizenship ceremony in December 2023 will receive their certificate of naturalisation; if her attention has been drawn to the impact that this delay is having on people for work, passport applications and not being able to register to vote in the upcoming referendum; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10113/24]
John Lahart (Dublin South West, Fianna Fail)
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494. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality whether her attention has been drawn to the fact that many people who attended citizenship ceremonies on December 18 and 19 have yet to receive their certificates (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [10577/24]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 463, 476 and 494 together.
I am advised that the vast majority of the 6,000 Certificates for people that attended the December ceremonies have now issued. Any applicants that are yet to receive their certificate can be assured that they will receive their Certificate of Naturalisation via registered post in the coming weeks.
In a little over two years the Citizenship Division of my Department has gone from processing around 12,000 applications a year to processing over 20,000 applications. This 66% increase in processing has been achieved through digitising and streamlining processes.
Last year Citizenship Division more than doubled the number of Citizenship Ceremonies available to applicants with 15 held over the course of the year. These took place in the RDS, Dublin in March, in the INEC, Killarney in June, and in the Convention Centre in both October and December. This was a significant increase on 6 Citizenship Ceremonies held in 2022.
I recognise that the delay in receiving a Naturalisation Certificate is frustrating for people and my Department is examining on how to speed up the delivery of Certificates for future Ceremonies to be held this year.
Finally, I can advise the Deputy that the Citizenship Division of my Department will continue to communicate regularly with all applicants to keep them informed on updates on processing times and arrangements.
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