Catherine Callaghan (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fine Gael)
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822. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications made by American citizens for Irish citizenship on grounds of "Irish Associations" under Section 16 (1) (a) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, in each of the years 2021 to 2024, and in each respective case, the percentage of applications that were successful; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47826/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that it is not possible to provide statistics on the number of applications and decisions from USA nationals based on Section 16 'Irish Association' received each year, during the past four years. This would require the manual examination of hundreds of cases. Such an examination would require a disproportionate amount of time to compile.

Following the recent introduction of the new Section 16 'Irish Association' guidelines, arrangements to separately record such applications have been put in place.

The guidelines provide clarity to both applicants and decision-makers on what factors may be considered when deciding whether to waive such naturalisation conditions under Section 16 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. These new guidelines have been developed in the interests of fair and transparent procedures and comprehensive decision making.

The new guidelines are available on my Department’s Immigration Service website at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/how-to-become-a-citizen/.

My Department has written to over 1,500 people with ongoing Section 16 applications advising them of the recently published guidelines and have afforded them an opportunity to them to provide additional documentation, should they wish. I can advise the Deputy that a significant number of submissions relating to Section 16 'Irish Association' applications have been received.

Since May 2025, 140 decisions on Irish Association applications have been made.

Louis O'Hara (Galway East, Sinn Fein)
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823. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the status of a citizenship application (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [47861/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I understand that the Deputy has been in contact with my Department's Immigration Oireachtas service regarding the person cited and a status update was recently provided. This application continues to be processed by the citizenship division of my Department.

I am aware that 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 is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.

I expect that going forward, the 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 outside 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 Customer Service Portal. They can register for, or log in to their existing account, at: portal.irishimmigration.ie/en/.

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.