I am sure the Deputy will appreciate that the granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and an honour 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.
As a general comment I am somewhat surprised by the matters raised in this question. When I came into office there was a backlog of approximately 22,000 applications for naturalisation with cases taking 2 years and sometimes significantly more to process. Rightly so, there were major criticisms of these delays and I set about addressing this matter with the result that today most standard cases are being processed in less than six months. This essentially means that applicants are required to attend citizenship ceremonies at reasonably short notice. I must say that, having attended and officiated at almost all ceremonies, my experience is that the candidates are universally appreciative of the reduced timescales for processing their applications as well as being immensely proud of becoming Irish citizens. As outlined in the following paragraphs, information is provided at the various stages to applicants and arrangements can be made to reschedule candidates scheduled for a particular ceremony if they cannot attend.
The procedures employed to assess an applicant for naturalisation include an initial examination upon receipt of each application to determine if the statutory application is completed fully. Incomplete application forms are returned to the applicant for further attention while valid applications are examined to determine if the applicant meets the statutory criteria set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act such as good character and lawful residence and enquiries are made, as appropriate, with relevant Departments and agencies to establish if the applicant meets the requirements for the granting of naturalisation. It should be noted that my Department keeps applicants informed of the status of their application at each stage of processing. Once these processes are completed, the application is submitted to me for a decision which is made in my absolute discretion under the Act by assessing the entirety of the information available to me. All applicants are then informed of my decision in writing.
Successful applicants are then advised by letter of my intention to grant citizenship and they are requested to submit the prescribed fee and other documents, including their up-to-date GNIB card. On receipt of the fee and documentation, the case is finalised and in due course the person is invited to attend a citizenship ceremony at which they required to make a declaration of fidelity to the Irish nation and loyalty to the State and receive their certificate of naturalisation.
Candidates are informed that if the ceremony date does not suit them they are not obliged to attend. However, due to the volume of applications, it may take some months before an alternative invitation can issue. Invitations are generally issued between two and a half and four weeks prior to a ceremony.
I can assure the Deputy that the Citizenship Unit makes every effort to ensure that as much notice as possible is afforded to candidates and to take account of individual circumstances. However, in this context, it should be noted that candidates are required to submit the required fee and documentation within approximately six months of notification of my intention to grant the application and failure to do so or repeated failure to attend a citizenship ceremony may result in a requirement for a new application as fresh verification and checks will be necessary.
The Deputy may wish to note that 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 established specifically 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.
