Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 6 October 2010
244 Deputy John McGuinness asked the Minister for Justice and Law Reform if an application for naturalisation will be approved in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Tipperary and if he will expedite the matter. [35269/10]
Amharc ar fhreagraAn application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to in the Deputy's Question was received in the Citizenship Section of my Department in September 2007. Officials in that section inform me that a letter requesting further documentation was sent to the applicant on 2 September 2008 and further letters on the 14 October 2008 and the 17 December, 2008. No response was received from the person concerned and processing of this application was ceased. A new application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person concerned was received in the Citizenship Division of my Department in June 2010.
All valid applications are dealt with in chronological order as this is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants. The average processing time from application to decision is now at 26 months. More complicated cases can at times take more than the current average, while an element of straight forward cases can be dealt with in less than that timescale. The length of time taken to process each application should not be classified as a delay, as the length of time taken for any application to be decided is purely a function of the time taken to carry out necessary checks. There is a limit to the reduction in the processing time that can be achieved as applications for naturalisation must be processed in a way which preserves the necessary checks and balances to ensure that it is not undervalued and is only given to persons who genuinely satisfy the necessary qualifying criteria.
I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual Immigration cases may be made direct to INIS by Email using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. The service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek this information through the more administratively expensive Parliamentary Questions process.
