Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

121. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current processing time for family reunification applications under S.56 International Protection Act; the FTE staffing levels of the family reunification unit in each of the years 2024 and 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52255/25]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

123. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to explain the 'final immigration checks' of a S56 family reunification application; who carries out these checks; the average processing time of these checks; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52308/25]

Catherine Connolly (Galway West, Independent)
Link to this: Individually | In context

124. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of S.56 family reunification cases that have been open for longer than two years, by nationality and number of beneficiaries included on applications, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [52309/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context

I propose to take Questions Nos. 121, 123 and 124 together.

Family reunification (FRU) is provided for under Section 56 of the International Protection Act 2015, and allows people granted International Protection status to apply for certain family members to join them in the State. An application for FRU must be made by the sponsor within 12 months of them being granted an International Protection permission.

I understand that people are eager to have their families join them in the State and I want to assure anyone who has an application submitted, that my Department is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.

I can inform the Deputy that to date in 2025, the median processing time for FRU applications is approximately 19 months, with around 900 sponsor applications received, and decisions issued in respect of 1,197 beneficiaries.

As of 29 September 2025, there are 445 applications open longer than two years with my Department. Table 1 below shows the top five nationalities with applications outstanding.

The number of potential beneficiaries associated with these applications is not available and would require the manual examination of hundreds of cases which could not be justified.

Table 1

It should be noted that no two applications are the same and that numerous factors can impact processing times. Processing times can vary depending on the nature of the application, the documentation supplied, and the detailed and often complex assessment that is required to be carried out on such applications.

The position is that robust and comprehensive checks must take place on each application. Some international checks can take a considerable amount of time and these are largely outside of the control of my Department. For sound operational reasons, it is not the practice to comment on the enquiries that may be conducted.

I can inform the Deputy that in 2024, the FRU unit had 10 FTE staff. This unit currently has 12.5 FTE staff.