I am taking this question on behalf of Deputy Colm Burke. I would like extend my sympathies to Deputy Burke on the recent death of his mother-in-law. Our thoughts are with him and his wife Mary at this time. Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam dílis.

I wish to ask the Minister about his views on the ongoing delay in processing immigration permission renewal applications in view of the fact that at present only applications received from early December 2025 are being processed, the action his Department is taking to reduce the current processing timeline and if he will make a statement on the matter.

I begin by joining the Deputy in offering my sympathies to Deputy Colm Burke.

The registration office of the Department is currently experiencing an exceptionally high demand for immigration permission renewal applications. This has regrettably reduced the timeline of the service to our customers. I understand that the extended wait times can be frustrating for applicants but I assure the Deputy the Department is exploring every avenue available to facilitate as many customers as possible. I had a meeting with my officials on this matter in the past couple of weeks, primarily to increase that processing capacity. The registration office is already open seven days a week to facilitate customers, with a team working considerable overtime as well to try to facilitate this.

Further measures are being put in place to reduce processing times. I expect this will address the delays currently being experienced. The registration office also provides a live processing date, which is updated every Monday, and is available on the website of the Department. It is currently processing applications submitted from 22 December 2025. It is open to customers to submit their applications up to 12 weeks in advance to allow sufficient time for an application to be processed and I would encourage people to take advantage of that.

Deputy Burke mentioned employers and the legality of employment to me, and I am sure he intended to mention it today. We have issued a notice to employers regarding the legality of employing someone awaiting renewal. That notice is also available on the website, so there should be no ambiguity in that area for employees who are worried, or for employers in terms of this.

I thank the Minister of State for his ongoing work in this space. It is very important to see that we are increasing capacity here in terms of renewal of applications. It is good to see the office is open seven days a week and people are working overtime to address the backlog. It is hugely frustrating for people who have applied and are waiting for an answer on this. I do take the point though in terms of seeking applications 12 weeks in advance. That is something we need to get out there a lot more, giving applicants and employers that assurance that they can submit renewal applications up to 12 weeks in advance. It is encouraging that the Minister of State will to continue to work with his officials to see whether they can reduce the timeframe associated with this. We all collectively want to see these applications processed within a four to six-week period, if at all possible. I encourage the Minister of State to continue his work in that regard.

The Minister of State's comments of the extension of the IRP card are very welcome - up to 12 weeks after the expiry date. Is it the Minister of State's intention to reduce processing time to four to six weeks? If so, is there a timeframe in which he would like to see that happen over the next number of months and years? It is good to see it brought up in the House today because it is of concern to many people.

We want an efficient and effective service that allows for the fact of those 12 weeks and the fact people are getting a turnaround. There are some exceptional reasons for the surge in demand in terms of the number of people applying. There are particular surge points at different times a year where the numbers go up. We are putting the technology and the systems in place that we believe will allow us to manage this and deliver on the timeline we want to see for people getting their renewals.