547. Deputy Robert O'Donoghue asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to Parliamentary Question Nos. 497, 498, 499, 500, 536 and 537 of 23 June 2026, if he is aware that many applicants awaiting renewal of their Irish Residence Permit continue to experience processing times significantly in excess of those stated in the recent parliamentary replies, in which he indicated that online renewal applications are generally processed within six–eight weeks and that no application category exceeds 16 weeks; whether he will clarify the basis on which these processing timeframes were provided, given that many applicants continue to report waiting considerably longer without receiving a decision (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [50994/26]

552. Deputy Denise Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the percentage of Stamp 4 renewal applications that are being processed within the estimated ten-to-twelve-week period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51085/26]

555. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration if his Department has plans to increase resources to immigration service delivery in order to rectify delays in the processing of Stamp 4 visas; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51128/26]

I propose to take Questions Nos. 547, 552 and 555 together.

The Registration Office of my Department continues to experience an exceptionally high demand for first time registration appointments and immigration permission renewal applications.

I understand that the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants, and I can assure the Deputy that my Department is exploring every avenue available to facilitate as many customers as possible and to increase processing capacity.

The Registration Office is open seven days a week to facilitate customers to process both first time registration appointments and online renewals. Additional staff have been assigned to this work, which has now begun to reduce the processing time for renewals.

For certain categories of renewals, the processing time is now approximately 6 - 8 weeks from the time of initial application, with no category exceeding a wait time of 17 weeks. I can advise that the processing times referred to in previous Parliamentary Questions were accurate at the time of issue.

The Registration Office provide a live application processing date broken down by stamp category, which is updated every Monday, and is available on the Immigration Service website at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/how-to-renew-your-current-permission/renewing-your-registration-permission-if-you-live-in-the-republic-of-ireland/.

While my Department endeavours to process applications as quickly as possible, processing times may vary due to a number of factors, such as the number of applications on hand, individual circumstances, the complexity of applications, whether further information is required, and peak application periods.

The Registration Office has issued a notice to employers regarding the employment of someone awaiting renewal. If an employee’s Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card has expired and they are unable to obtain a new one by the expiry date of their current IRP card, they are still legally permitted to remain in the State on their existing IRP card for a maximum of 12 weeks.

This is subject to the applicant submitting their renewal application prior to their current IRP card expiring. Further information on this notice can be found here: www.irishimmigration.ie/notice-to-employers-regarding-employees-awaiting-renewal-of-their-irp-card/

In addition, customers may submit their renewal applications up to 12 weeks prior to expiry of permission, to allow sufficient time for an application to be reached and processed prior to a current permission expiring.

This provides a 24 week window for applicants to obtain a new IRP card.

It is also open to any person to request to have their renewal application expedited due to extenuating circumstances, and they can do so by contacting the Registration team of the Department via the Customer Service Portal. They will need to explain their circumstances and the urgent need to travel. All such requests are considered on a case by case basis.

Applicants can now directly check the status of their immigration application on the Immigration Service’s Customer Service Portal. They can register for, or log in to their existing account, at

https://portal.irishimmigration.ie/en/

The information requested on the percentage of stamp 4 renewal applications processed within 10-12 weeks is not readily available. To source this information would require the manual examination of each individual stamp 4 renewal processed. Such an examination would require a disproportionate amount of time to compile and would deflect resources from processing applications.