Citizenship timelines 2019-Ireland

Hi there everyone,
I have followed this forum for years and have been very grateful for all the information and times lines etc posted here in the past. This is my first time posting as I can't seem to find a processing timeline for Ireland for 2019.
My husband applied for naturalisation in May 2018 having been married to me (an Irish citizen) for four years and having lived with me in the North of Ireland since that time. We got a letter confirming receipt of our application in June 2018 but mentioning that as there had been a large volume of applications, his request had not been processed or initially examined yet. We were given a reference number to quote in that letter and his passport was returned. I think (can't remember) we got a second letter a little while later which I assume was his stage one letter. My husband emailed last month(1 Jan 2019) to request an update on the status of his application and got this reply (see below) on 3 Jan 2019. Does this mean or tell us anything or is it simply a generic response? I am thinking of emailing the same thing again each month to compare answers until approval is granted.
Many thanks in advance for any help or advice. Please post any updates for 2019 here and let's share timelines etc. Good luck everyone!

Your application is currently being processed and will be submitted to the
Minister for decision as expeditiously as possible.

While it is not possible to give an exact timeframe, this office will be in
touch as soon as a decision has been reached.

Regards,

Citizenship Helpdesk Team 3

If he applied in May 2018, please post in the 2018 timeline only topic we already have. Starting a 2019 application timeline topic is not relevant to your circumstances.

ireland/2018-citizenship-application-ti ... 46311.html

If you have general questions about the application, post it in a heading not stating a timeline and date.

For info, there are people still waiting who applied in 2016 and 2017, see links below.

ireland/delay-in-citizenship-application-t246135.html

ireland/citizenship-applications-from-2 ... 68818.html