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Naturalisation Applications

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 17 November 2020

Tuesday, 17 November 2020

Questions (679)

Peadar Tóibín

Question:

679. Deputy Peadar Tóibín asked the Minister for Justice the reason the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service in County Tipperary is not responding to phone calls or emails from elected representatives and members of the public; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [36943/20]

View answer

Written answers

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases can continue to be made by Deputies directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained.  

The Citizenship Division of the Immigration Service of my Department is working very hard to maintain as prompt a service as possible during the restrictions imposed by the COVID-19 global pandemic. Unfortunately, as a result of these restrictions, significant delays are occurring in the issuing of acknowledgment receipts and the processing and return of documentation. 

The ability of staff to attend at the office continues to be impacted and consequently the citizenship telephone helpline is not available until further notice.  It is recommended that any queries are sent by email during this time but given the volume of emails currently being received, the Citizenship Division is unfortunately not in a position to respond to individual queries regarding certificates of naturalisation or invitations to a citizenship ceremony from approved applicants at this time.  Email queries related to citizenship or naturalisation will be examined and a response will issue in due course.

In the interests of fairness to all applicants, applications for naturalisation and general queries are currently being dealt with in strict chronological order. 

The priority continues to be to dedicate resources to processing of cases.  COVID-19 has unfortunately prevented the holding of our large scale citizenship ceremonies. I have recently given approval for the priority drafting of a statutory instrument covering applicants who are 'ceremony ready' where my Department will issue the naturalisation certificate on receipt of a statutory declaration. In this way, we hope to alleviate the delays currently impacting those seeking to start their new lives as Irish citizens. This will enable approximately 3,000 applicants to be granted citizenship in the near future. It remains my intention that large scale ceremonies will recommence once circumstances allow.

Updated notices on all citizenship matters are available on our website, which is regularly updated: https://www.irishimmigration.ie/citizenship/latest-citizenship-news.

Question No. 680 answered with Question No. 659.
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