Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry, Independent)
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321. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if she will review a citizenship application (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [28305/24]

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.

The Citizenship Division have advised that they requested further documentation from the applicant on 24 June 2024. Once these documents are received, the application will progress to the eVetting stage of the Naturalisation process.

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

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 this year over 16,000 decisions have been made.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that these changes are reducing processing times.

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.