An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy was received in my Department on 18 December 2000. As I have informed the House on a number of occasions, most recently on 29 November last, I have assigned additional resources to the citizenship area of my Department and the average processing time for naturalisation applications has now been reduced from two and a half years at the start of the year to just under 18 months now.
It is likely the application in question will be finalised early in the new year. As soon as full consideration has been given to this case, I will advise both the applicant and the Deputy of my decision.