599. Deputy Paula Butterly asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the measures being taken to address delays in the processing of re-entry visas (details supplied); the current average waiting time for applicants; the number of applications awaiting decision for more than three months; whether consideration is being given to reintroducing or expanding the use of travel certificates or other temporary travel arrangements for persons awaiting the issuance of a re-entry visa who have urgent travel commitment; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [51694/26]

I understand the Deputy has clarified that her question relates to an individual online immigration permission renewal application, the details of which have been supplied to my Department.

The person referred to by the Deputy applied to renew their immigration permission on 09 April 2026 and this application is currently in the queue for consideration.

The Registration Office within Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) of my Department provide a live application processing date broken down by stamp category, which is updated every Monday, and is available 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/.

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.

The Registration Office has also issued a notice to employers regarding the legality of employing someone awaiting renewal. This notice can be found here: www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/how-to-renew-your-current-permission/notice-to-employers/.

If the application is approved, the person concerned can expect to receive their new Irish Residence Permit (IRP) card within the following 10-15 working days.

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 www.portal.irishimmigration.ie/en/.

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.

As an Oireachtas member, you can also request the status of individual immigration cases by e-mail, using the Oireachtas Mail facility at: IMoireachtasmail@justice.ie, which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Question process.