Mattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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127. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality when a decision will be made on an application for citizenship (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27479/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy has been approved.

A request for final documentation and a Certificate fee will issue directly to the applicant. Once submitted and accepted, they will be added to the queue for an upcoming Citizenship Ceremony.

Candidates will be required to produce identity documents on the day for verification purposes, for example a valid Passport. In the event an applicant is unable to produce a valid passport, they may bring an alternative means of identification.

Further information on Citizenship Ceremonies is available here:

Please note it is important that any non-EEA national keeps their immigration permission up-to-date as they await a Ceremony.

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. I am pleased to inform the Deputy that these changes are significantly reducing processing times. I expect that going forward the 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.

Finally, I can advise the Deputy that the Citizenship Division of my Department continues to communicate regularly with all applicants to keep them informed as to updates on processing times and arrangements.

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.