Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
1028 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform further to Question No. 399 of 18 November 2003, if a determination has been made in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 8 who has applied for citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21293/04]
View answerDue to the unprecedented volume of applications for naturalisation being received, the average processing time has now increased to 24 months. It is likely, therefore, that the application of the person concerned will be finalised around the end of this year. As I have previously stated, there are more than 650 staff members employed by my Department in the provision of services for or in respect of non-nationals. Unfortunately, it has been the case that over 70% of those staff are engaged full-time in activities associated with the actual processing of asylum claims or in the provision of support for asylum applicants. However, the significant reduction in the numbers of asylum applicants is now giving me an opportunity to re-focus those resources on areas of service provision for non-nationals which are under-resourced at this point in time. The citizenship area is one of the areas which will benefit from that process.
