Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 30 January 2018
279. Deputy Thomas Byrne asked the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 130 of 18 January 2018, if it is policy that it is a condition of naturalisation that a person has not been absent from the State for more than six weeks per annum in the years claimed towards the reckonable residency requirement, irrespective of the explanation furnished under Q5.6 of the application form. [3981/18]
View answerAs I advised the Deputy in my response to his recent Parliamentary Question number 130 of 18 January, the granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is governed by the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. The Act provides that the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for naturalisation if he is satisfied that the statutory conditions set out in the Act, which include residency conditions, are met.
The statutory residence conditions are that, regardless of how long an applicant may have resided in the State, the applicant must have a period of 1 year's continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the 8 years immediately preceding that period, have had a further total residence amounting to 4 years (in the case of an application based on being the spouse or civil partner of an Irish citizen the Act reduces this further period to 2 years during the preceding 4 years).
While the Act clearly stipulates the statutory periods of residence required in the State, and that the final year be continuous residence, it has long been recognised that many people may travel abroad for a holiday, or may have some unexpected or unavoidable reason to travel abroad. In this regard it is considered that a reasonable and generous period of up to 6 weeks be allowed to provide for absences from the State for normal holidays and other short term and temporary nature absences, such as for business meetings or a family wedding or bereavement or medical emergency while abroad, and that such short term nature absence from the State would not impact on the statutory residence requirement. The Minister may allow some further discretion where there are wholly exceptional or unavoidable circumstances.
In the notes attached to the application form it is made clear to applicants that arrangements for assessment of residence are on the basis that the person is physically resident in the State for the required period of time and that where there are significant absences from the State the application may be refused.
Every application for naturalisation is considered on its own merits having regard to the statutory conditions set out in the Act.
