Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 3 May 2023
37. Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of WTE staff by grade within his Department dealing with foreign birth registrations as of 25 April 2023; and the number of foreign birth registrations currently within his Department. [20502/23]
View answerMy 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.
There are currently 24,966 FBR applications for which supporting documents have been received and which are being processed by the Passport Service. There are a further 11,689 FBR applications for which the Passport Service are awaiting the submission of supporting documentation from the applicant.
The number of full-time equivalent staff working in Foreign Birth Registration in the Passport Service is set out below by grade, in tabular form.
|
Grade |
Number working in FBR |
|
Assistant Principal |
1 |
|
Higher Executive Officer |
3 |
|
Executive Officer |
7 |
|
Clerical Officer |
59.9 |
|
Total |
70.9 |
