Sinn Fein TD Ruairí Ó Murchú has welcomed Government efforts to reduce citizenship application times ‘down to a reasonable level,’ describing the news as ‘very positive.’
The comments were made during an Oral Priority Question on the matter to Minister of State at the Department of Justice James Browne.
Minister Browne informed the Sinn TD that in the first six months of this year, a total of 16,000 citizenship decisions were made while the median processing time for a decision on an application in 2023 was 15 months. This was down from 19 months in 2022.
The minister also noted that processing times are now decreasing year on year:
“This is a result of re-engineering and streamlining the process, the introduction of a very successful online digital application, as well as online payments and the introduction of e-vetting. My Department has increased its decision-making capacity, which has had the effect of increasing the number of grants of citizenship applications from 13,598 in 2022 to 18,279 applications in 2023.”
Deputy Ó Murchú descried the ceremony for those people who have gained their citizenship as ‘very happy occasions’. He went on to say that he was sure they were also “one of the Minister’s favourite engagements as Minister.”
However, he said the processing times, “still seems to be touching upon two years for many and some applications even exceed that. We are talking here about people who are working and playing a huge role in our society.”
Gript’s Dr Matt Treacy has previously highlighted that roughly 95% of applications for Irish citizenship are approved.
Dr. Treacy has also demonstrated that the Irish state differs quite radically from the rest of the EU in terms of the main countries of origin of those who are granted citizenship.
“13,600 people were granted citizenship in the Irish state in 2022, and that increased to more than 18,000 in 2023.
At the last ceremonies held in 2023, on December 18 and 19, 6,000 people from 131 different countries were conferred with citizenship. That brought the total since the beginning of 2013 to over 120,000.”