Réada Cronin (Kildare North, Sinn Fein)
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292. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for citizenship received in each of the past three years; the number of successful applicants in each of these years; the current average wait time for processing applications; the length of time the longest applicant is waiting; if she will address the current delays; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [45599/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I would like to inform the Deputy that 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, and has already made more than 28,000 decisions to date in 2024.

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. The median processing time for a decision on an application in 2023 was 15 months - down from a median processing time of 19 months in 2022.

Whilst a figure in respect of the current year is not yet available, based on the current output and at the current application levels, my Department expects that the median processing time will reduce again over the course of this year.

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. 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.

Of the approximately 42,000 files on hand, the majority are either from 2024 or the second half of 2023. Due to the significant efficiency improvements implemented within citizenship, I expect that going forward, the vast majority of new applicants will receive a decision within one year.

Insofar as older applications are concerned, my Department is currently carrying out an exercise to establish whether the application is still being pursued by the applicant or can be closed. Typically the last action on these cases will have been a request from the Department for further or clarifying information.

The number of applications received for the past three years is outlined in the table below: