Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
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324. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to outline the security checks that are carried out before the issuance of an Irish passport in the case of a person who comes to Ireland on a student visa, then applies for the leave to remain status, and then goes on to marry an Irish national. [8657/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Prior to travelling to Ireland, a non-EEA student may be required to apply for a visa, if from a visa required country. Visa applications are part of the screening processes, designed to establish that a person has a legitimate reason to come to Ireland prior to travel.

A visa applicant is required to present certain documentation in support of his or her application including a valid passport to establish identity. The applicant is also required to provide details on any previous immigration and any criminal convictions. Separately, the biographic data for all visa applicants, and for certain countries biometric data, where it is taken as part of the application process, is used to conduct further checks on the application to determine eligibility for an Irish visa. Verifying an application is an important part of our immigration system.

When a non-EEA national enters the State to undertake a course of study, be that an English language course or a course at level 6 or above on the National Framework of Qualifications (NFQ), a Stamp 2 student immigration permission will be granted upon satisfying the relevant criteria.

Should a person on a student permission marry an Irish citizen, they can apply to live in Ireland with their spouse or partner upon satisfying certain criteria. One such criteria is that they are of good character and have not come to the adverse attention of An Garda Síochána. Further information on the Spouse or civil partner of an Irish national scheme is available on my Departments ISD website at www.irishimmigration.ie/my-situation-has-changed-since-i-arrived-in-ireland/spouse-civil-partner-of-irish-national-scheme/

Should a non-EEA national apply for a certificate of naturalisation, their application will be assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.

All applicants are required to satisfy the good character criterion under Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended.

As part of this assessment, An Garda Síochána is requested to make enquiries into the applicant’s background; the detail and extent of which is a matter for An Garda Síochána. For sound security and operational reasons, it is not the practice to comment on the enquiries that may be conducted.

The issuance of an Irish passport, which may occur after naturalisation, is a matter for the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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325. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide an update regarding the status of a naturalisation certificate in the case of a person (details supplied). [8664/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can advise the Deputy that the person concerned recently attended one of the Citizenship Ceremonies hosted by my Department earlier this month. All certificates of naturalisation for the attendees of these ceremonies are currently in the process of being printed and will be issued via registered post.

I want to assure anyone who is waiting for their certificate of naturalisation that they do not need to renew their immigration permission whilst they await a certificate. I am advised that introducing a parallel temporary certification document at this stage would divert resources from the process of issuing the Certificates.

By not issuing certificates on the day of the ceremonies, my Department has been able to simplify the administrative steps required to be completed at registration desks. This in turn has made it possible to significantly increase the number of attendees who can attend any one day of Ceremonies.

These steps are part of an overall programme of work to speed up the naturalisation process for applicants. This includes 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 and made nearly 31,000 decisions in 2024.

As an Oireachtas member, you can also request the status of individual immigration cases 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.