Charles Flanagan
Ceist:510. Deputy Charles Flanagan asked the Minister for Justice the status of a citizenship application by a person (details supplied) submitted in December 2017. [61966/22]
Amharc ar fhreagraTuesday, 13 December 2022
Ceisteanna (510)
Freagraí scríofa
The naturalisation application from the person referred to by the Deputy continues to be processed by my Department, with a view to establishing whether the applicant meets the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation.
It should be noted that correspondence issued to the applicant on 15 February 2019, 05 June 2019, 26 August 2019 & 05 October 2021 with a response only being received on 11 October 2021.
I am advised that an e-vetting invitation is now issuing to the applicant and on receipt of same, the application will be processed further.
The granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and an honour which confers certain rights and entitlements not only within the State but also at European Union level and it is important that appropriate procedures are in place to preserve the integrity of the process.
It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay. However, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process. In some instances, completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time.
However, my Department is taking a number of steps to speed up the processing of applications and a number of digitisation measures have also been introduced to increase efficiency in the process, including eTax clearance, eVetting and online payments. The end result of the digitisation process will be to free up more staff to focus on processing applications in a timely and efficient manner, to improve service to our customers and reduce waiting times.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to my Department by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in the cases where the response is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.