Damien English (Meath, Fine Gael)
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Question 693: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the requirement that a person be resident here for five years before he or she can make an application for Irish citizenship applies from the date the person entered Ireland regardless of the number of times he or she may have changed employer (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [34185/04]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that an applicant for a certificate of naturalisation must have had a year's continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, had a total residence in the State amounting to four years.

In determining whether an applicant satisfies this residency requirement, periods for which the permission of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was not granted, or where permission was granted for the purposes of study or seeking to be recognised as a refugee, cannot be reckoned. All other periods are reckonable.

It is, therefore, the case that time spent in employment in the circumstances detailed by the Deputy is reckonable for naturalisation purposes, irrespective of any change of employer.