An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to in the Deputy's Question was received in the Citizenship Section of my Department in October 2005. Officials in that Section are currently processing applications received in the beginning of 2005 and have approximately 3,300 applications on hand to be dealt with before that of the individual concerned. These are generally dealt with in chronological order as this is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants.
It is likely, therefore, that further processing of the application will commence in the first half of 2008. I will inform the Deputy and the person concerned when I have reached a decision on the application.