Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 2 February 2012
202 Deputy Clare Daly asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if a barring order, safety order or protection order made in the context of family law proceedings represents grounds for rejecting an immigrant’s Irish naturalisation application. [6011/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe granting of Irish Citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and an honour and not an entitlement. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. One such condition is that I must be satisfied that the applicant is of good character. It would be inappropriate for me to indicate what might or might not specifically constitute good character in this context as to do so could be interpreted as a fettering of the absolute discretion given to the Minister in the Act. I can say, however, that I exercise my discretion based on an evaluation of the overall case presented to me.
