Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 April 2012
588 Deputy Derek Nolan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for citizenship that are outstanding for more than five, four, three, two and one year; the progress that has been made to speed up the completion of such applications; the timescale envisaged to deliver on the policy that such applications would be dealt with in six months; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20195/12]
Amharc ar fhreagra603 Deputy Sean Fleming asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the average time from the date of application for naturalisation to a decision; the number of applications on hand for over three years; the longest period that a person is waiting for a decision at this time; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [20607/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 588 and 603 together.
There has been an enormous increase in the volume of applications for a certificate of naturalisation in recent years. In 2000 the number of applications made that year was just over 1,000 whereas last year the number was 25,671 — an increase of almost 2,500%. Quite clearly, this dramatic increase in volume has impacted on the capacity of the administrative system to process them and has given rise to a large volume of cases on hand. This gave rise to a situation where most cases were taking well over two years to complete. I undertook to address this issue and committed to get to the stage that by the second quarter of this year, save in exceptional circumstances, persons applying for a certificate of naturalisation will be given a decision on their application within six months. In this regard, a major effort has and continues to be made in reducing the time taken to process the generality of applications.
When I came into office just over a year ago there were about 22,000 cases on hands and, as indicated, applications were taking well over two years to complete. In 2011 over 16,000 applications were dealt with. I expect to have made a decision on 12,000 applications by the end of May this year and a further 12,000 by year end. By contrast, in 2010, a decision was reached in just under 7,800 cases. The number of certificates of naturalisation issued in 2012 up to the 1st April was c. 6,500, equivalent to the total issued in the full year 2010.
The nature of the naturalisation process is such that for a broad range of reasons some cases will take longer than others to process. The primary aim, however, over the past year has been to reduce the large volume of cases on hand as swiftly as possible and this has been achieved in the majority of cases.
By way of general comment, it is a statutory requirement that, inter alia, applicants for naturalisation be of good character. In some instances that can be established relatively quickly and in other cases completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time. I can, however, inform the Deputies that steps are being taken to process all outstanding applications and to have made significant inroads into them by the end of this year.
Records are not maintained by the relevant section which processes naturalisation applications in a way which would facilitate the extraction of the detailed information sought by the Deputies without the commitment of significant staffing resources to the task. In any event, my priority is that the outstanding applications be processed and I am reluctant to divert staff from that core duty for no obvious benefit and to no advantage to applicants.
