Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 16 May 2024
220. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice the progress to date in determination of an application for citizenship in the case of a person (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22305/24]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy has been approved and the Citizenship Division are now awaiting payment of fees from the applicant.
In a little 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. This 66% increase in processing has been achieved through digitising and streamlining processes.
Last year Citizenship Division more than doubled the number of Citizenship Ceremonies available to applicants with 15 held over the course of the year. These took place in the RDS, Dublin in March, in the INEC, Killarney in June, and in the Convention Centre in both October and December. This was a significant increase on 6 Citizenship Ceremonies held in 2022. The next Citizenship Ceremonies will take place on 10 and 11 June 2024 at the INEC Killarney and also on 20 and 21 June at the Convention Centre Dublin.
Finally, I can advise the Deputy that the Citizenship Division of my Department will continue to communicate regularly with all applicants to keep them informed on updates on processing times and arrangements.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department 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. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.
