The Minister for Justice, Helen McEntee TD, has today (Thursday) announced the nationwide transfer of immigration registration functions from An Garda Síochána to the Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) of the Department of Justice, with effect from 13 January 2025, completing the full civilianisation of administrative immigration functions.
From 13 January 2025, all first-time registrations will be handled, in person, at the Burgh Quay Registration Office in Dublin, while all applications for renewals of immigration permissions will continue to be handled using the new online portal.
Welcoming today’s announcement, Minister McEntee stated:
“It gives me great pleasure to announce the full civilianisation of administrative immigration functions from An Garda Síochána to Immigration Service Delivery of my Department, as committed to in the Programme for Government to implement the recommendation made by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland.
“Prior to the transfer of immigration functions from An Garda Síochána, over 100 Gardaí were assigned to immigration duties, and today’s announcement has further released valuable Garda operational resources.
“The entire civilianisation process has enabled Gardaí to focus more on enforcement and operational matters, such as deportations and investigations.”
Last year was a record year for both first-time immigration registrations and renewals of immigration permissions. In total, over 310,000 applications were processed, comprising over 95,000 first-time registrations and over 215,000 renewals.
Welcoming this milestone, the Minister went on to say:
“I am committed to driving reform within Immigration Service Delivery of my Department to provide a more efficient and modern service for our customers.
“With the introduction of the Digital Contact Centre, customers can communicate with Immigration Service Delivery in a more customer-friendly and efficient manner.”
