Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 20 March 2025
181. Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice the number of applicants for naturalisationcurrently pursuing their cases in the courts; the legal costs to the State that have been incurred in 2023, 2024 and to date in 2025 in relation to this; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12877/25]
View answerAt present there are 118 active cases before the courts relating to naturalisation applications.
The number of legal cases taken should be taken in the context of an increasing number of applications. Last year in 2024, Citizenship Division received 27,376 applications.
Naturalisation applications are processed in line with the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, as well as any constitutional obligations.
A number of the legal cases taken are related to the length of time an application is taking. The Citizenship Division of my Department is doing everything possible to progress applications as quickly as possible. However given the importance of granting Irish citizenship, robust and comprehensive checks must take place on each application. Unfortunately, some international checks can take a considerable amount of time and these are largely out of the control of the Immigration Service.
Citizenship Division have taken a significant number of steps to speed up the process for applicants. These included introducing an online digital application, online payments, and the introduction of eVetting.
I am pleased to inform the Deputy that these changes are dramatically reducing processing times. This has meant that the length of time it takes to process an application has dropped from 15 months in 2023 to 8 months in 2024.
In recent years, training has also been provided to Citizenship Division staff to ensure that unsuccessful applicants are fully aware of the reasons for a refusal. This has had a significant impact on the number of judicial reviews received. In 2024, the number of judicial reviews taken in relation to citizenship applications was 13% down on 2023.
The legal costs in respect of cases relating to citizenship are set out in the table below.
|
Year |
Citizenship Legal Costs Paid: |
|
2023 |
€2,353,829 |
|
2024 |
€2,001,762 |
|
2025 |
€293,305 |
Details of legal costs for my Department are published in the Annual Appropriation Accounts and subject to audit by the Comptroller & Auditor General. These can be found at: www.audit.gov.ie/en/publications/appropriation%20accounts/
