Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 18 January 2018
126. Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if it is standard practice to notify applicants for naturalisation that they will be issued with a certificate of naturalisation and for an invitation to a citizenship ceremony to issue only for that invitation to then be withdrawn and a person left waiting for 15 months for another decision on an application to issue such as in the case of a person (details supplied). [2415/18]
View answerAs the Deputy will appreciate, the granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation 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.
I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that the invitation to the person concerned to attend a Citizenship Ceremony was withdrawn as the application for naturalisation required further investigation and consideration. The processing of the application is on-going. Additional information may, if required, be requested from the applicant in due course. When all necessary information has been compiled the application will be submitted to me for decision as expeditiously as possible. As the processing requirements and the time taken to complete the necessary checks vary from case to case, it is not possible to indicate when a decision will be given in respect of his application.
It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay, however, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process. In some instances completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time. Occasionally it may arise that the consideration of an application may require to be revisited.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to the INIS of my Department 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 the INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
