Responsibility for the renewal of Irish immigration permissions has been transferred from An Garda Síochána to Immigration Service Delivery (ISD) of the Department of Justice.

From today, immigration permissions that are due to expire from 4 November onwards can be renewed online using the ISD portal. This means that applicants across the State will no longer be required to attend in person at their local Garda station.

Prior to this, the online renewal system was only available to those who lived in Dublin, Kildare, Meath, Wicklow, Cork and Limerick.

This is another step forward in the Garda civilianisation process as recommended by the Commission on the Future of Policing in Ireland (CoFPI).

Justice minister Helen McEntee said: “I am determined to take any and all opportunities to civilianise administrative immigration functions in An Garda Síochána. Civilianisation allows Gardaí to focus their time on the more operational and enforcement side of their immigration work such as investigations and deportations.

“The transfer of registration functions nationwide is a crucial step forward in this effort.”