Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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219. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the extent to which backlogs in respect of applications for asylum, citizenship, naturalisation and updates of residency status have been addressed; the progress made in the past six months to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [38461/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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With regards to Citizenship, 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.

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 dramatically reducing processing times.

Based on the current application levels, I expect going forward that most straightforward applications based on residency will receive a decision within one year.

The Domestic Residence and Permissions (DRP) division of my Department has also undergone a modernisation process in response to increased volume of applications and demand for services. DRP has issued 23% more decisions to the end of August 2024 in comparison to the same period 2023.

As part of the modernisation process, a review of the documentary requirements for immigration schemes took place with a view to streamlining application processes and making them user-friendly for customers. Application processes have been moved to a digital format for Student, De Facto partner, Spouse of Irish National, Irish Citizen Child, and Turkish Association immigration schemes over the last six months. This has simplified the application process for customers and made the process more efficient. Further schemes will move to a paperless system by the end of the year.

Finally, with regards to International Protection, my Department takes all necessary steps to manage the process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.

This year, asylum applications in Ireland have increased by 77.4% with 15,283 applications to 23^rd September 2024, compared to 8,613 applications in the same period in 2023.

I am ramping up investment at every level of the international protection system, including in the International Protection Office (IPO). In recent years, the IPO has expanded its processing capacity, doubled its budget, and invested in process reform and digitisation.

One of the priority areas of focus has been to recruit both civil servants and panel members, to increase case processing. The International Protection Office now has 541 staff, an increase of 155% since 2022. This investment has led to the number of decisions issuing increasing threefold and is set to increase further this year.

The International Protection Appeals Tribunal’s operations have also continued to scale up to try and deal with the increase in appeals. The Tribunal received a €9.228m budget for 2024, which is a 53% increase on the €5.999m allocated in 2023.

Staff numbers at the International Protection Appeals Tribunal continue to increase year on year to meet the current challenges. In 2021, the agreed administrative staff of the Tribunal was 41. In March 2024 there were 62 administrative staff in IPAT. Currently there are 74 administrative staff with an aim to increase this to 78 by the end of 2024.

The number of tribunal members is also increasing. There were 43 new part-time Members recently appointed increasing part-time Members to 93. In January, sanction was given to increase the number of part time members to 160.