Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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768. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the steps being taken to address the backlog in citizenship applications over the past five years; the timeframe for the backlog to be cleared; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61680/25]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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769. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of citizenship applications granted in each of the past five years, by nationality, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61681/25]

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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773. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of people granted Irish citizenship and the total number of citizenship ceremonies, respectively in each of the past ten years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61685/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 768, 769 and 773 together.

I understand that extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants. I want to assure anyone who has an application for naturalisation submitted, that my Department is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible.

My Department has 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. This digitisation has facilitated a record number of citizenship decisions made last year. In just over two years, 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.

I am pleased to inform the Deputy that these changes are reducing processing times. The median processing time for a decision on an application in 2024 was 8 months. This is a significant decrease from the median processing time of 15 months in 2023 and 19 months in 2022.

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 19 ceremonies this year, with more planned for later in the year.

It is important to note, however, 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 checks, such as international checks, can take a considerable amount of time and these are largely outside of the control of the Immigration Service.

For that reason, while, I expect that going forward, that most applicants will receive a decision within one year, this cannot be guaranteed in the case of applications made in any specific year.

The nationalities of those who were granted citizenship and who have received their certificate of naturalisation from 2020, up to 10 November 2025, is outlined in the attached file. It should be noted that decisions issued in any year may relate to applications which were received in previous years due to the time taken to process applications.

Table 1 below details the number of people granted Irish citizenship and who have receive their certificate of naturalisation, and the number of citizenship ceremonies in each of the past ten years.

Table 1

Nationalities of those who were granted citizenship and who have received their certificate of naturalisation from 2020, up to 10 November 2025

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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770. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of citizenship applications revoked in each of the past five years, by nationality, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61682/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that revocation of Irish citizenship is only undertaken in the most serious of circumstances as set out in section 19 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended). The loss of citizenship has serious consequences and each case is considered very carefully.

Following a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Damache v Minister for Justice [2020], changes to the process were made by the Court, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024 to address the issues which gave rise to the Supreme Court judgment.

Under the new procedure, where the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration decides to revoke citizenship, they may do so under the five grounds set out in the 1956 Act. A notification of this intention is issued to the individual, who will be provided with the opportunity to make representations, and has 28 days to so, before a decision is made to revoke their certificate of naturalisation.

Following receipt of those representations, or on expiry of the 28 days, if it is decided to proceed to revoke the certificate of naturalisation, then the individual has 14 days in which to request a Committee of Inquiry. Upon receipt of this request, the Minister will appoint a Committee of Inquiry, which will be composed of a chairperson who will be a retired Judge of the Circuit Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, or the Supreme Court, and two ordinary members with appropriate experience and qualifications. The Committee of Inquiry will be independent in its function of inquiry into the Minister's decision and can either affirm the decision or set it aside.

Amendments to the process of revocation of citizenship came into effect from 7 April 2025 and the revised provisions can be found at revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/1956/act/26/section/19/revised/en/html

In the last 10 years, this power has been used seven times. It is the policy of my Department not to release numbers where there are less than 5 in respect of any nationality, as there is a possibility that a person may be identifiable by releasing such information.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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771. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the period that an individual stays in the State under the provisions of the Temporary Protection Directive will count as a period of reckonable residence for applications for Irish citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61683/25]

Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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784. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if persons currently accommodated in Ireland through the Ukrainian accommodation scheme, can apply for a residency permit after a period of two years here; his plans to allow such persons to regularise their status. [61977/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 771 and 784 together.

Beneficiaries of Temporary Protection hold temporary permission to remain in Ireland, renewable annually for as long as the Directive remains in force.

On 15 July 2025, the Justice and Home Affairs Council extended Temporary Protection by a year until March 2027, providing certainty for beneficiaries who can continue to avail of the protections that the Directive provides.

In addition, the Government has agreed to opt in to an EU proposal for a Recommendation related to a coordinated exit from Temporary Protection. While not binding, this recommendation outlines a series of measures to pave the way for a smooth and coordinated approach to transitioning out of Temporary Protection for displaced people from Ukraine. It also acknowledges the inherently temporary nature of temporary protection and that it therefore must eventually end.

The proposed recommendation focuses on four sets of measures:

1. Promote and facilitate the transition to other legal statuses before the end of temporary protection;

2. Pave the way for a smooth and sustainable reintegration in Ukraine;

3. Ensure information provision to displaced persons; and

4. Ensure coordination, monitoring and exchange of information among Member States and with the Ukrainian authorities.

On 16 September, the recommendation was adopted by Member States. This recommendation will inform ongoing work across Government on approaches to managing the exit from Temporary Protection.

Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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772. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of people granted Irish citizenship in the past ten years who had been living in the State for less than five years, by year, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61684/25]

Colm Brophy (Dublin South West, Fine Gael)
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All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.

Section 15 of the Act sets out the statutory conditions that must be fulfilled for a certificate of naturalisation to be granted.

In general, applicants are required to have 5 years reckonable residence in the State prior to making an application. However, there are a small number of exceptions where a person in the State less than 5 years can apply for citizenship.

In all cases, the final 12 months must be continuous residence in the State with up to 70 days allowed to facilitate foreign travel for business family or holiday purposes.

Spouses of Irish nationals can apply for citizenship having 3 years reckonable residence in the State.

People granted International Protection can apply after 3 years from the date they are declared a refugee. It should be noted, however, that the time spent in the State prior to being granted international protection is not counted as reckonable for Citizenship such that in practice total residence upon naturalisation will often exceed 5 years.

Children who are born in Ireland after 1 January 2005 are automatically entitled to Irish Citizenship, if one of their parents are Irish or UK citizens, or if one of their parents has accumulated 3 years reckonable residence in the 4 years prior to their birth. When a child is not entitled to citizenship at birth, an application for naturalisation can be made on behalf of a child who is born in Ireland or whose parent have become a naturalised Irish citizen, provided that the child has 3 years reckonable residency in the State.

Applications of the above nature are received and processed by the Department in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions in each instance. While statistics are maintained on the broad categories of applicant, data is not available on the length of residence a person will actually hold at the point of being naturalised, and this will vary according to when a person chose to apply.