Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 153: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when he anticipates that processing times for naturalisation applications will be shortened, as he has indicated numerous times in his replies to parliamentary questions; the length of processing time he is aiming for; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9876/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I refer the Deputy to my answers to Questions Nos. 166 of 18 November 2004 and 414 of 22 March 2005.

To those answers I wish to add that the subject matter of the Deputy's question is not new, although it may be more prominent in public debate given the huge increase in our non-national population. Deputies from all sides of the House have raised concerns about service from the immigration and citizenship division of the Department since the early 1990s, if not earlier. Whatever actions were taken in respect of those concerns clearly did not stand the test of time. Nobody contemplated then that Ireland's asylum seeking population would mushroom to the extent that it did and nobody anticipated the extent to which the Irish born child phenomenon would grow.

I acknowledge that the level of customer service in immigration and citizenship matters is less than it should be. What I am interested in achieving is a long-term sustainable solution. To that end I have engaged the services of PA Consulting Group in order, inter alia, to ensure that the staffing resources currently available within the asylum, immigration and citizenship areas of my Department are optimised and targeted in the most effective manner possible at core functional activities, including citizenship. I have also undertaken preparatory work on a request for tender document which will lead in due course to a major enhancement of the information technology capacity of the immigration and citizenship areas of my Department.

In addition, the recently announced new Irish naturalisation and immigration service, INIS, by providing a one-stop-shop approach, will improve customer services for legally resident migrants. The benefits of the new service should become clear from an early date. Within a year there should be a significantly improved service with a much clearer customer focus, revised organisational procedures and IT systems in place to deliver improved customer service.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 154: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will expedite the naturalisation application of a person (details supplied), in view of the fact that this person was not told until 27 months after they filed their initial application that it was invalid due to the fact that at the time of filing they had not met the five-year residency requirement. [9877/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy was received in the citizenship section of my Department on 13 February 2002. The application would have been briefly examined at that time to ensure the applicant had been resident in the State for the statutory five-year period.

I considered the application on 31 March 2004 and decided not to grant a certificate of naturalisation. The applicant had arrived in the State in 1996 and applied for asylum. The application was refused in August 1998 and that decision was upheld on appeal in December 1999. In that same month, he obtained permission to remain in the State on foot of being the parent of an Irish born child.

I have decided as a matter of general policy not to reckon, for naturalisation purposes, residency in the State for the sole purpose of seeking asylum in circumstances where the application was not successful. When this general policy was applied to the applicant's case, I considered that he did not have sufficient reckonable residency in the State to merit naturalisation. In arriving at my decision, I considered that there were no exceptional circumstances disclosed in the applicant's case why I should not apply the stated general policy.

This decision was conveyed in writing to the person concerned on 28 May 2004, together with the reasons for same. I emphasise that the application of the person concerned was fully processed and was unsuccessful; it was not invalid.

A new application from the person referred to was received in my Department on 22 February 2005. Applications for certificates of naturalisation are generally dealt with in chronological order and this practice is not deviated from except in exceptional circumstances. I do not consider that the reasons put forward in the new application are sufficient in this regard. I will inform both the Deputy and the applicant as soon as I have reached a decision on the new application.

Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 155: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the procedure for applying for Irish citizenship for a child of non-national parents who is born after 1 January 2005; the procedure for applying for Irish citizenship for such a child in a case in which the parents have been legally resident in the State for 2.5 years. [9878/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I assume the Deputy is referring to a situation where the child, although born in Ireland on or after 1 January 2005, is not entitled by operation of law to Irish citizenship, as a result of changes to our citizenship laws which came into effect on that date. Subject to certain exceptions, those changes mean that such a child is not entitled to citizenship by operation of law where neither non-national parent has, during the period of four years immediately preceding the child's birth, been lawfully resident in the island of Ireland for a period of not less than three years, or periods the aggregate of which is not less than three years, periods of lawful residence as a student or as an asylum applicant being discounted in that context.

Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended by the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004, empowers a parent to apply for a certificate of naturalisation on behalf of such a child. A condition precedent under that section is that the parent in question has had a period of one year's continuous residence in the State immediately before the date of the application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, has had a total residence in the State amounting to four years. Periods of unlawful residence, periods of lawful residence for the purposes of study and periods of lawful residence as an asylum applicant are not reckonable for that purpose.