Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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62. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the average waiting time for processing individuals on the foreign births register; and the number of cases currently being processed. [41829/25]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR or Naturalisation.

FBR, by its nature, is a detailed and complex process, often involving official documentation relating to three generations and issued by several jurisdictions. Such documents take considerable time to validate. FBR applications are currently being processed within the normal turnaround time of approximately 9 months from receipt of all required supporting documents. Applications that require further supporting documents will take longer to process.

There are 54,900 FBR applications currently in the system. The number of applications with the Passport Service (PPS) for processing is 46,400, and the number of applications currently with the applicant (i.e. the PPS is awaiting documentation) is 8,500.

The Passport Service Customer Service Hub has dedicated agents to deal with Foreign Birth Registration application queries. The contact number for urgent Foreign Birth Registration queries is +353 1 568 3331.