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Dáil Éireann díospóireacht -
Wednesday, 30 Jan 2002

Vol. 547 No. 1

Written Answers. - Residency Permits.

Brendan Howlin

Ceist:

1003 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a decision will be expedited on an application for naturalisation by a person (details supplied) in Dublin 8 which was submitted to his Department in July 2001; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2397/02]

An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy was received in my Department on 27 June 2001, one of 1,427 applications received last year. Additional staff resources and significant administrative changes were introduced in the citizenship area of my Department during the course of 2001 with the result that the processing time for naturalisation applications has been reduced from two and a half years at the start of 2001 to 15 months by the years end.

Applications for certificates of naturalisation are generally dealt with in chronological order as this method is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants. At this stage, I anticipate that the application of the person referred to in the Deputy's question will be finalised sometime in the second half of this year. As soon as I have reached a decision on the matter, both the applicant and the Deputy will be informed of the outcome.

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