Vol. 521 No. 4
228 Mr. McGrath asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason there are long delays in his Department in the processing of applications for residency from non-EU nationals who are the parent/parents of Irish children; if he has changed the procedures within his Department in dealing with such applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17073/00]
My Department receives applications from persons for permission to remain in the State on the basis that they are the parents of an Irish born child. Many of these applications are from current or former asylum seekers but applications are also received from other categories of person including persons who have previously resided in the State illegally. A total of 444 applications were received from January to end May this year.
Applications are dealt with in the order in which they are made and, due to the volume of applications received, the typical processing time is currently in the region of five months. In a minority of cases the need to make further inquiries will result in a longer processing time. My Department is endeavouring to reduce processing time as far as possible, having regard to the available resources and the many other types of applications received.
While this issue is one which is being kept under ongoing review, there have been no recent changes in the procedures applied by my Department in dealing with these applications.
