Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 5 February 2004
122 Ms Shortall asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the actions he is taking to deal with the considerable backlog of cases awaiting decisions in his Department in respect of residency based on marriage to Irish nationals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3461/04]
View answerThere is an ongoing increase in the number of applications received of the type referred to by the Deputy. There were 156 in 2001 and 271 in 2003. Applications of this type are dealt with on a strict chronological basis and are currently taking approximately ten months to process. The resources allocated to process such applications are dependent on the prioritised work requirements of my Department's immigration division.
