The Irish Department of Justice has introduced a platform that allows applicants to apply for citizenship online, simplifying and making the process more accessible. According to a press release from the authority, the forms provided on the platform will make the process transparent and help guide applicants on what is required in the next steps. As a result, those applying for Irish citizenship will now be able to fill in the application form, upload their documents and make payments online, completely eliminating unnecessary red tape. However, paper applications will still be available for those unable to access the service online. About 31,000 applications are currently being processed. Justice Minister Helen McEntee has highlighted that the new online system for applying for citizenship will improve the civil service and increase the efficiency of the application process. She also pointed out that the number of applications for naturalization has increased in recent years, reaching 17,000 last year alone. So far this year, 16,000 citizenship applications have been filed, and that number could continue to rise until the end of the year. Digitising the citizenship application process will also improve my department's ability to effectively process the increasing number of applications. According to the Department of Justice data, the number of citizenship applications in Ireland has increased significantly since 2019, from 12,307 to 17,139 in 2022, an increase of 39.2%. However, applications experienced a drop in the pandemic times, only reaching 10,785 and experiencing a slight increase in the following year – 11,974. Moreover, there are significant changes within the naturalisation process as the Citizenship Division expects it to become more efficient, with one of the improvements being the reduction of waiting times for files to be registered. There has been an improvement recorded on the matter, as it took seven months to be registered, and now it takes a few weeks to process.