Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality when a decision will issue on applications for naturalisation lodged by persons (details supplied) in County Galway; the reason for the delay in processing the applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40236/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Citizenship Division of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that valid applications for a certificate of naturalisation were received from the persons referred to by the Deputy in December 2007.

The applications are currently being processed with a view to establishing whether the applicants meet the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation and they will be submitted to me for decision as expeditiously as possible. While good progress continues to be made in reducing the large volume of cases on hand, the nature of the naturalisation process is such that for a broad range of reasons some cases will take longer than others to process. It is a statutory requirement that, inter alia, applicants for naturalisation be of good character. In some instances that can be established relatively quickly and in other cases completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time. I can, however, inform the Deputy that enormous progress has been made in dealing with the backlog and steps are being taken to process all outstanding applications and to have made significant inroads into them by the end of this year.

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.