Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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448. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps an English national, who has been a long-time resident in Ireland, must take to apply for Irish citizenship. [4642/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. A determination on whether an applicant satisfies the statutory criteria for naturalisation can only be made after an application is received.

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.

Detailed information on how to apply for naturalisation and other resources is available on my Department’s Immigration website at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to-become-a-citizen/

The Citizenship Division of my Department have taken a significant number of steps to speed up the Naturalisation process for applicants, including the introduction of an online digital application, online payments, and eVetting.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that processing times are now decreasing year on year. The median processing time for a decision on an application in 2024 was 8 months, down from 15 months in 2023, and 19 months in 2022.

I expect that going forward, the vast majority of applicants will continue to receive a decision within one year, however, it is important to note that no two naturalisation applications are the same and some take longer than others to process.

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 made nearly 31,000 decisions in 2024.

Furthermore, citizenship division held 24 citizenship ceremonies last year, an increase from the 15 ceremonies held in 2023, and the 6 that were held in 2022. To provide regular opportunities for applicants to complete the naturalisation process, my Department will continue to hold ceremonies on a regular basis during 2025.