Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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293. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to indicate the procedure to be followed in the case of a person (details supplied) who has been resident there for the past two years, has applied for citizenship and is concerned for her future and that of her four children; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [30827/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is governed by the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are processed and assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Act.

Applicants are required to have 5 years reckonable residence in the State prior to making an application, except for spouses of Irish nationals and people granted International Protection where the requirement is 3 years. In all cases, the final 12 months must be continuous residence in the State with up to 70 days allowed to facilitate foreign travel for business family or holiday purposes.

It is open to anyone to make an application for citizenship once they meet the criteria as set out in the 1956 Act, as amended. Only once an application is received, can a determination on whether the applicant satisfies the statutory criteria for naturalisation be made.

Unfortunately, applications cannot be expedited due to the intended purpose of naturalisation such as travel, or to join family members.

The Citizenship Division of my Department have taken a significant number of steps to speed up the Naturalisation process for applicants. Including 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. Based on the current application levels, I expect going forward that most straightforward applications will receive a decision within a 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.

Further detailed information on how to apply for naturalisation is available on my Department's Irish Immigration website at: www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to-become-a-citizen/

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.