Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 29 September 2004
1168 Mr. McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a decision will be expedited in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kilkenny; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22950/04]
View answerThe application referred to by the Deputy is one of over 6,600 such applications received in my Department since the start of 2003. The average processing time for such applications is approximately 24 months at present. Officials in the citizenship section of my Department have informed me that they are now processing applications received at the start of 2003 and that it is likely to be the latter part of 2005 before the application of the person concerned is reached.
Owing to the volume of applications on hand, applications are usually dealt with in chronological order, unless there are very exceptional circumstances in a particular case for finalising it earlier. I will give consideration to the matters raised by the Deputy and will communicate with him directly in the near future.
