Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 12 June 2014
188. Deputy Bernard J. Durkan asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if she will use her discretionary powers to facilitate the requirements for naturalisation in the case of a person (detail supplied) in County Kildare who has found it impossible to obtain the necessary details from the Angolan Embassy in London or the authorities in Angola and whose mother is an Irish citizen; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [25176/14]
View answerOfficials in the Citizenship Division of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service inform me that there is no record of an application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to in the Deputy's question, who currently has permission to remain in the State until 31 January 2015.
The position in general is that persons making an application for a certificate of naturalisation are required to provide evidence of their identity. If they do not have their passport, birth certificate or other supporting document, then they should obtain it, so that the State can have equivalent proofs of the identity of naturalised citizens as all other citizens. In rare circumstances where an applicant cannot obtain their passport, birth certificate or other supporting documents for reasons genuinely beyond their control, then the applicant will be required to provide an explanation and submit evidence, such as correspondence from the relevant authorities responsible for the issuing of passports and birth certificates in their country, stating why they are not obtainable. The Citizenship Division will assess those reasons and if satisfied that they provide a genuine impediment, alternative means of validating the true identity of the person will be put in place.
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.
