Citizenship Applications.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 17 November 2004

Wednesday, 17 November 2004

Questions (342, 343)

Gay Mitchell

Question:

382 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if an application for naturalisation for a person (details supplied) has been examined; if all necessary documentation has been supplied; when he expects to be able to provide a decision on this application; the date of applications now being examined; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28649/04]

Written answers

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

At the time of issue of the letter referred to by the Deputy in March 2003, the average processing time for an application for naturalisation was 15 months. Consequently, the person concerned was informed that his application would be examined in the first half of 2004. Since that time, the processing time has extended to 24 months, primarily due to the significant increase in the volume of applications being received since 2002. Processing on the 1,400 applications received in the first quarter of 2003 is ongoing.

The examination of the application referred to by the Deputy is almost finalised. Until the examination is completed, it is not possible to state if further documentation will be required from the applicant. I have been informed that the application should be submitted to me within the next couple of months. I will inform both the applicant and the Deputy as soon as I have reached a decision on the application.

Gay Mitchell

Question:

383 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of applications for naturalisation received for each month since 1997, in tabular form; the number of applications processed for which a decision was made in each month; the number of applications granted in each month; the number of applications denied in each month; the date of applications being examined in each month; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28655/04]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

Statistical information available in the citizenship section of my Department has always been based on the number of applications received, certificates issued and applications refused. It is not possible, therefore, to provide details of the level of processing, where such processing has not yet resulted either in the issuance of a certificate or in the refusal of a certificate. In the period 1997 to 2001, records were maintained in such a way which would provide statistics of the total number of applications received, the total number of applicants naturalised and the total number of applicants refused in each year. Details in this regard are contained in Table A below.

For the period 2002 to date, records were modified in such a way which would enable the above information to be available on a monthly basis. Details in this regard are contained in Tables B, C and D below. It should be noted that the numbers of certificates issued or applications refused in a given period do not necessarily refer to the applications received during that the same period.

Table A.

	New applications	Certificates issued	Applics. refused
1997	650	294	68
1998	588	352	31
1999	739	416	79
2000	1,004	125	57
2001	1,431	1,012	8
2002	3,574	1,332	109
2003	3,580	1,664	179
2004 (to end Oct.)	3,449	1,227	544

Table B.

2002	New applications	Certificates issued	Applics. refused
January	208	67	0
February	138	132	0
March	139	96	0
April	235	80	2
May	216	226	2
June	177	130	3
July	374	95	26
August	402	99	31
September	279	149	24
October	318	173	3
November	451	83	0
December	637	2	18

Table C.

2003	New applications	Certificates issued	Applics. refused
January	271	90	29
February	256	179	4
March	321	178	60
April	312	238	35
May	283	177	1
June	319	174	0
July	351	114	1
August	236	89	4
September	354	142	7
October	298	90	0
November	304	122	18
December	275	71	20

Table D.

2004	New applications	Certificates issued	Applics. refused
January
February	326	155	49
March	380	144	137
April	155	107	20
May	515	82	20
June	413	115	9
July	388	146	43
August	266	23	57
September	361	183	9
October	311	110	192

The average processing time for an application for naturalisation has fluctuated between 12 to 15 months and 24 months in the period 1997 to date. It is approximately 24 months at the present time. This is primarily due to the volume of applications that have been received in last three years.

There are 20 staff assigned to the citizenship section of my Department. In all, over 650 staff members are employed by my Department in the provision of services for or in respect of non-nationals. Unfortunately, it has been the case that over 70% of those staff are engaged full time in activities associated with the actual processing of asylum claims or in the provision of support of asylum applicants. However, the major reduction in the numbers of asylum applications is now giving me an opportunity to re-focus those resources on areas of service provision for non-nationals which are under resourced at this point in time. The citizenship area is one of the areas which will benefit from that process.