Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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176. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current position in regard to an application for citizenship in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [26691/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy continues to be processed by my Department.

I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants. I want to assure anyone who has an application for naturalisation submitted that the Citizenship Division of my Department is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.

It is important to note that no two applications are the same and some take longer than others to process. All applicants must undergo Garda vetting. Unfortunately, it is the case that some international checks can take a considerable amount of time and are largely out of the control of my Department.

The previous backlogs in application processing in Citizenship had arisen largely due to the legacy of restrictions imposed on staff attendance in the office during the pandemic. The median processing time for applications had peaked at 19 months.

Since then, Citizenship Division have taken a significant number of steps to speed up the process for applicants. These included introducing an online digital application, online payments, and the introduction of eVetting.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that these changes are significantly reducing processing times. I expect that going forward the vast majority of applicants will receive a decision within one year.

In just 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 in 2023.

Already in 2024, 16,000 decisions have been made in the first half of the year.

Last year, Citizenship Division more than doubled the number of ceremonies available to applicants with 15 held over the course of 2023. This was a significant increase on 6 Citizenship Ceremonies held in 2022. It is envisioned that this number will be significantly surpassed this year, with 15 ceremonies already taking place by the end of June.

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: IMoireachtasmail@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.