I thank the Deputy for his question and his remarks. Earlier this week I was delighted to attend the citizenship ceremonies held in Killarney along with the Ministers of State, Deputies Collins and Buttimer. It is a wonderful ceremony to go to. We had 5,200 new Irish citizens there. Last year the number of naturalisation applications received by the Department was 27,032. Separately, the number of people who received a letter of approval was 29,868 and 187 were refused. Despite the substantial increase in applications received in recent years, the fact processing times have significantly reduced is a huge credit to the work of the Department and the staff in that particular area. The median processing time for a decision on an application in 2024 was eight months. This is a significant improvement from the median processing time of 15 months in 2023, 19 in 2022 and 24 in 2021. The Department has 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. This digitisation has facilitated a record number of citizenship decisions made last year. In just over two years, my Department has gone from processing around 12,000 applications a year to processing over 20,000 applications in 2023, more than 31,000 decisions in 2024 and over 32,500 to end October 2025. I assure everyone who has an application for naturalisation submitted to the citizenship division that the Department is doing everything to progress it. However, it is important to note that no two naturalisation applications are the same and some take longer than others to process. It is important the citizenship process be robust and comprehensive. Checks are carried out on each application. Unfortunately some of the international checks can take considerable time and this is largely outside of the control of the Department. I am sure the Deputy receives, as I and many others in this House do, receive representations on that. For that reason, while I expect going forward more applicants will receive a decision within one year, it cannot be guaranteed.
Sentiment score: 0.17
The Department is always planning ahead and looking at that. We have put, as I said, additional resources in place. I do not believe additional backlogs will come in. Every effort is made. As I know people will listen to this, I reiterate that no two applications are the same. Some individual applications that come in take considerably longer, particularly in relation to checks that have to be done by An Garda Síochána, which are outside our direct control in terms of reply lines. That leads to a frustration where people ask why their application is taking X amount of time compared with those from others. As a general rule, the Department is working towards a processing time of within 12 months for applications coming in.
Sentiment score: -0.10
As I indicated in my initial response, we have seen very significant reductions in processing times. The objective is to try to provide that service within as tight a 12-month timeframe as we can. We will continue to do that. As I mentioned, there will always be individual cases where that is not the case. In the context of a significant increase in the number making applications in recent years, we have seen the processing time decrease in the handling of that increased volume. I would like to put on record that this is a result of the excellent work being done by the staff in that area in the Department. They are based in Tipperary and do an excellent job in processing these applications.
Sentiment score: 0.32
I appreciate the comments in relation to the language and tone that must be used at all times in having conversations around this issue. It is very important, and important in this House. During the period from 2022 to 2024, over 45,000 additional international protection applicants arrived in Ireland. Prior to this, a typical three-year period would have seen between 8,000 and 9,000 arrivals. IPAS was accommodating approximately 7,000 people in total at the end of 2021. By the end of 2024, that figure had risen to 32,000. During that surge, the State was obliged to urgently source over 26,000 beds for international protection applicants, and in parallel, up to 60,000 beds for people fleeing the war in Ukraine. Centres were opened across the country, often at short notice, in order to ensure that people were provided with shelter. Given the emergency, the State was not in a position to implement any deliberate policies in relation to dispersal or distribution of accommodation centres during this period. However, I note that the 318 IPAS accommodation centres currently in operation are distributed and operational in every county across Ireland. Due to the reduction in the numbers seeking international protection in 2025, my Department has been able to progress a range of very significant actions; to work to improve oversight, particularly of value for money; and to increase the proportion of State-owned beds across the system. The new rate card that has been implemented for contracts has delivered savings of over €59 million since May of this year. While commissioning emergency commercial accommodation will continue to be necessary in the short to medium term, it is being contracted on a short-term basis, which enables the State to decommission this capacity with agility as contracts expire or to meet fluctuating demand. Ireland has adopted and is now working to implement the EU pact on migration. Reforming and speeding up the processing of applications should serve over time to reduce the scale of the demand for international protection accommodation, as we have seen starting in recent years.
Sentiment score: 0.04
I assure the Deputy, as I did in my initial reply, that this is what we are doing. We fully recognise that we went through a period where we had an effective emergency. We had a massive surge in numbers and we had to respond to those on a humanitarian basis and to provide emergency accommodation as necessary. The operation that the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have been working on, literally day and night since we came into office, is to ensure we put in place an IPAS system that is fit for purpose, delivers value for money for the taxpayer, is based on moving towards State ownership of facilities rather than commercial contracting, and takes into account impacts on communities and local people. We also want to meet our key central requirement, which is to provide the accommodation that is needed, as we are obliged to do under our international obligations. In the context of doing all of that and in the context of renewing the contracts as they fall due, we are very much aware of the need to have an even spread, to look at how impacted communities are by location and to take that into account in all future decisions we make. Overall, the way of dealing with this is to bring down the numbers, which will bring down the need for the centres.
Sentiment score: 0.13
There is very little of that I would disagree with. To be absolutely clear, the Minister, Deputy O'Callaghan, and I have announced a contribution model which we will implement. We believe absolutely in a system based on fairness, which means that people who are working and bring provided with accommodation through the IPAS system should make a contribution to the cost of that provision. On the actual cost of providing the IPAS system, as I mentioned we have implemented a new rate card as part of contract renegotiations. As each contract comes forward for renegotiation, the new rate card kicks in. That is delivering savings to the State on providing IPAS accommodation of million and millions of euro. The real long-term saving to the State is the switch, which we have also implemented, to State-owned facilities. As the cost of a State-owned facility is a fraction of that of a commercial facility, that is the way we want to move. We are also cognisant that once people have moved through IPAS and have been granted permission to remain in this country, they should move out of IPAS centres and move into their own accommodation.
Sentiment score: 0.04