2160. Deputy Michael Cahill asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of applications (details supplied) under the Turkish Association Agreement that have been decided each month from January 2026 to date; the average and maximum processing time for a first-instance decision under this scheme; if the processing of Turkish Association Agreement applications has been suspended, paused, or deprioritised relative to other permission types at any point since February 2026, and if so, the reason and for how long; the steps being taken to prevent applicants from losing their employment and income while waiting for a permission to which they are already legally entitled; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [55098/26]

The Turkish Association Agreement (TURA) allows Turkish nationals legally employed in an EU member State for a certain period of time, gain rights to remain or to switch employment in that State, subject to certain conditions.

Further information on the TURA is available here: Turkish Association Agreement - Immigration Service Delivery (www.irishimmigration.ie/my-situation-has-changed-since-i-arrived-in-ireland/turkish-association-agreement/).

I can advise the Deputy that the processing of TURA applications was paused earlier this year pending the resolution of legal proceedings. I can further advise that applications have now resumed processing and my Department is currently examining TURA applications submitted in March 2026.

The table below details the number of TURA applications processed each month so far in 2026.

*Please note, figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing.

**Decisions issued in any month may relate to applications which were received in previous months due to the time taken to process applications.

While applicants await the outcome of their TURA application, they can continue to renew their stamp 1 immigration permission provided that they are still working for the same employer to which the permission was originally granted.

All nationwide applications for renewal of immigration permissions are submitted using the Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) online renewal portal. Further information on the renewal process as well as the list of documents required for each stamp type are available on the ISD website at the following link: www.irishimmigration.ie/registering-your-immigration-permission/how-to-register-your-immigration-permission-for-the-first-time/required-documents/

As an Oireachtas member, you can also request the status of individual immigration cases by email, 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.