Figures for the amount of money that the Department of Justice receives in fees related to the application for and granting of naturalisation through citizenship indicate that roughly 95% of applications for Irish citizenship are approved.
In a reply from Minister for Justice Helen McEntee to Rural Independent TD for Laois/Offaly Carol Nolan on Thursday, May 30, the Minister stated that a total of €186,111,325 has been collected in fees between the beginning of 2011 and to date in 2024.
Of that figure, $32,061,925 was received from persons applying for citizenship, and €154,049,400 in certification fees that have to be paid by a person whose application has been successful. The current application fee is €175 and the fee for certification is €950 with a reduced rate of €200 for minors, widows, widowers and partners of deceased Irish citizens.
No certification charge is paid by “recognised refugees and stateless persons” who are granted citizenship.
| Year | Application Fee € | Certificate Fee € | Total Fees Received € |
| 2011 | 283,850 | 20,858,350 | 21,142,200 |
| 2012 | 3,127,775 | 16,912,650 | 20,040,425 |
| 2013 | 3,488,100 | 19,518,200 | 23,006,300 |
| 2014 | 2,914,975 | 14,315,450 | 17,230,425 |
| 2015 | 2,053,100 | 9,225,250 | 11,278,350 |
| 2016 | 2,261,525 | 7,696,750 | 9,958,275 |
| 2017 | 2,065,350 | 6,744,800 | 8,810,150 |
| 2018 | 2,051,875 | 6,764,900 | 8,816,775 |
| 2019 | 2,332,400 | 4,754,750 | 7,087,150 |
| 2020 | 1,238,650 | 5,596,750 | 6,835,400 |
| 2021 | 1,862,000 | 8,363,550 | 10,225,550 |
| 2022 | 2,954,350 | 10,650,900 | 13,605,250 |
| 2023 | 3,651,200 | 12,251,500 | 15,902,700 |
| 2024 to date | 1,776,775 | 10,395,600 | 12,172,375 |
| TOTALS | 32,061,925 | 154,049,400 | 186,111,325 |
There has been no increase in the application fee since 2011 so the total received ought to provide an accurate figure for the number of applications that have been received over the period. That indicates that there have been 183,211 applications for citizenship since the beginning of 2011. That figure correlates closely with statistics supplied previously to Deputy Nolan.
Not all applications are processed in the year in which they are made. In November 2021 the average processing time for an application was 23 months.
According to the Department of Justice there were 52,205 applications for citizenship between 2019 and 2022. Had each applicant paid the fee the total for those years would be €9,135,875. The actual total in fees collected according to the table supplied in the Minister’s response to Carol Nolan was €8,387,400.
If each applicant had paid the fee on time it would equate to a total of roughly 47,900 applications, a discrepancy of more than 4,000 between the totals supplied by the Department and the total that can be calculated on the basis of the application fee. Presumably given that the overall figures correlate, this is an issue with regard to payment rather than a major discrepancy in recording applications.
Statistics for the period between 2011 and the end of March this year show that 174,794 persons were granted naturalisation through Irish citizenship. Had all of these paid the standard fee, the total collected would have been €12 million higher than the figure supplied which indicates that a substantial number of those conferred with citizenship are only liable for the lower €200 fee or are not charged because they are “recognised refugees and stateless persons.”
That would also suggest that the success rate for applications is extremely high. If, according to the fees, there have been 183,211 applications to become a citizen of the Irish state since the beginning of 2011, this means according to the statistics on naturalisation for the same period to the end of March that more than 95% were approved.
That surely is an extraordinary figure even given the low bar set by the Irish state.
As has been pointed out previously, acquiring Irish citizenship is remarkably easy by international standards.
According to the current criteria, a person could have spent four of the previous nine years prior to qualifying for citizenship living outside of the state.
This has led the World Population Review to include the Irish state as being among those in which it is easiest to apply for and to be granted citizenship. Right up there with Paraguay, Peru and St. Kitts and Nevis.
Figures for the US show a 90% success rate for fiscal year 2023 but the criteria for the granting of citizenship through naturalisation are far stricter.
The median period for continuous legal residence is 7 years and applicants are required to pass a test to provide ability to speak, read and write English and a knowledge of American history and society. The median period for applicants from Mexico which is the country of origin of large numbers of applicants is over ten years.
The United States is regarded as one of the more difficult countries in which to require citizenship as are Ireland’s fellow EU members states Germany and Austria. However, given that several high profile and mundane criminal cases have featured defendants who are Irish citizens but who profess a need for a translator, there is an obvious case for raising the bar.
Especially given that quite a number of those granted citizenship would appear to be former applicants for International Protection who have been granted “leave to remain” as opposed to having their application for asylum approved.