Eoghan Kenny (Cork North-Central, Labour)
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315. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he is aware of the excessive processing times being experienced by citizenship and naturalisation applicants; the reasons for such delays; the steps being taken to remedy this occurrence; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22257/25]

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 that 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.