I am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that the person concerned was granted temporary permission to remain in the State for one year in 2000 under the arrangements then in place for the non-EEA national parents of Irish born citizen children. This permission was renewed subsequently until 1 September, 2008, the expiry date on her Latvian aliens passport. Following a review of her case by the relevant officials in my Department, and on receipt of her new Latvian aliens passport, the person concerned was granted further permission to remain in the State for two years until 11 February, 2015. Periods for which the person concerned did not have permission to remain in the State are excluded under section 16A(1)(a) of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, when assessing if the residency conditions for naturalisation are satisfied. An on-line residency calculator is available on the website www.inis.gov.ie which may be of assistance in establishing if and when the residency requirements are met.
Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.
