I am advised by the Citizenship Division of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that a valid application for a certificate of naturalisation was received from the person referred to by the Deputy in April, 2011.
The application is at an advanced stage of processing and will be submitted to me for decision as expeditiously as possible.
It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay. Considerable resources are deployed to process applications and these resources together with the necessary administrative arrangements are kept under review.
As well as being a significant event in the life of its recipient, the granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation as provided for in law is also a major step for the State which confers certain rights and entitlements not only within the State but also at European Union level and it is important that appropriate procedures are in place to preserve the integrity of the process.
The person concerned arrived in the State accompanied by her father in March 2000. The father was granted permission to remain in the State in 2002 under the arrangements then in place for the non-EEA parents of Irish born children. Minor children under the age of sixteen, who are resident in the State and are in the care of non-EEA parents who have been granted permission to remain, avail of the same permission to remain as their parents. The person concerned was granted permission to remain in the State on 17 May, 2002 initially on Stamp 2 conditions and subsequently on Stamp 4 conditions. I am informed that this permission is currently valid until 17 January, 2013.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.