Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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321. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality for an update on a citizenship application for a person (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14733/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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The naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy continues to be processed by my Department.

I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants, particularly considering the current processing times. 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.

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.

Given the importance of citizenship, robust and comprehensive checks must take place on each application. Unfortunately, some international checks can take a considerable amount of time and these are largely out of the control of the Immigration Service.

Citizenship Division have also 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.

The length of time taken to process an application has dropped from 15 months in 2023, to 8 months in 2024.

The person concerned can now directly check the status of their immigration application on the Immigration Service’s new Digital Contact Centre (DCC). They can register for, or log in to their existing account, at:

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.

Shane Moynihan (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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322. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the efforts of his Department to address backlogs in the processing of citizenship applications received prior to 2023; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14734/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I can assure the Deputy that the Citizenship Division of my Department is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.

I understand the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants, however, 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. 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. Given the importance of citizenship, robust and comprehensive checks must take place on each application. Unfortunately, some international checks can take a considerable amount of time and these are largely out of the control of my Department.

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 more than 31,000 decisions in 2024.

Furthermore, my Department held 24 citizenship ceremonies last year, an increase from the 15 ceremonies held in 2023, and the 6 that were held in 2022. My Department has already held 6 ceremonies this year and will continue to hold ceremonies on a regular basis during 2025.