277. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration further to the Government's approval of priority drafting of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship (Amendment) Bill 2026, the number of applications for naturalisation received in each of the years 2021 to 2025 and to date in 2026; the minimum, maximum and median processing time for such applications in each of those years; the breakdown of such by nationality of applicant; and the number of certificates of naturalisation revoked in each of the past five years, in tabular form. [66111/26]

All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. A determination as to whether an applicant satisfies the statutory criteria for naturalisation can only be made after an application has been received.

Last week, Minister O'Callaghan and I secured Government approval for the priority drafting of legislation to strengthen Ireland's naturalisation framework. The proposed legislation is intended to both strengthen the integrity of the naturalisation system and align Ireland more closely with the processes in several other EU Member States.

The number and nationalities of those applying for naturalisation are provided in the document at the link below. My Department continues to register applications received in 2025, and the information provided is current up to 30 September 2025.

In the document at the link, countries of origin with fewer than 10 applicants have been grouped under "Rest of the World" to avoid the possibility of identifying any individual.

The processing times for applications are outlined in the table below. Decisions issued in any given year may relate to applications received in previous years, due to the time required to process applications. It is not possible to provide a maximum or minimum processing time.

Table 1. Citizenship application processing times

*Figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing

Finally, the grounds for the revocation of citizenship are as set out in section 19 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended).

Changes to this process were made by the Court, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024; these changes were required to address issues identified in a Supreme Court judgment that had found the then revocation process to be unconstitutional. Amendments to the process of revocation of citizenship came into effect from 7 April 2025 and the revised provisions can be found at: revisedacts.lawreform.ie/eli/1956/act/26/section/19/revised/en/html

Under the new procedure, where the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration decides to revoke citizenship, they may do so under the five grounds set out in the 1956 Act. A notification of this intention is issued to the individual, who will be provided with the opportunity to make representations, and has 28 days to so, before a decision is made to revoke their certificate of naturalisation.

Following receipt of those representations, or on expiry of the 28 days, if it is decided to proceed to revoke the certificate of naturalisation, then the individual has 14 days in which to request a Committee of Inquiry. Upon receipt of this request, the Minister will appoint a Committee of Inquiry, which will be composed of a chairperson who will be a retired Judge of the Circuit Court, the High Court, the Court of Appeal, or the Supreme Court, and two ordinary members with appropriate experience and qualifications. The Committee of Inquiry will be independent in its function of inquiry into the Minister's decision and can either affirm the decision or set it aside.

In the last 10 years, 8 people have had their citizenship revoked, this includes two revocations since 7 April 2025.

Naturalisation Applications Data