Frank Feighan (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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31. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade the current waiting time for persons applying for passports under the foreign birth registrations; and if he is satisfied with the length of time applicants have to wait for their case to be considered. [19769/23]

Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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My Department is responsible for processing Foreign Birth Registration (FBR) applications for people who are born abroad and claim Irish citizenship through a grandparent born in Ireland or through a parent who has claimed citizenship also through FBR, Naturalisation or Post Nuptial Citizenship.

Demand for this service increased significantly as a result of the Brexit vote in the UK. The service was also impacted by necessary Covid-19 restrictions in 2020 and 2021 and the unprecedented demand for passports seen in 2022.

As a result of the significant extra resources deployed by the Passport Service to FBR processing over the past 8 months, the processing time has now been reduced to the normal requirement of between 6 and 9 months. Applications which require further supporting documents will take longer to process.

Foreign Birth Registration, by its nature, is a detailed and complex process, often involving official documentation relating to three generations and issued by several jurisdictions. Such documents take considerable time to validate.

Taking into consideration the complexity of these applications, I am satisfied with the current turnaround time for Foreign Birth Registration.

With respect to the turnaround times for first time passport applications made on the basis of Foreign Birth Registration, these applications are subject to the same turnaround times as applicable to all first time passport applications. The current turnaround time for first time passport applications is 20 working days for online applications and 8 weeks for paper applications. Turnaround time starts from the date of the receipt of supporting documents.