Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Labour)
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Question 687: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the delay in processing an application for naturalisation in respect of a person (details supplied); the reason the waiting time has moved from 15 months to two years; if there is a recruitment embargo in operation in this section of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10319/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The average processing time for an application for naturalisation is approximately 24 months at present. This is due, primarily to the significant increase in the volume of applications being received in the last few years. A total of 1,004 applications for naturalisation were received in 2000. The equivalent figures in 2002, 2003 and 2004 were 3,574, 3,580 and 4,074, respectively.

A redeployment of staff within the asylum and immigration area of my Department is currently under way. The citizenship area is one of the areas which is benefitting from this process. Between September 2004 and the present, an additional 17 full-time and part-time staff have been assigned to citizenship work and it is anticipated that these additional personnel, coupled with initiatives to which I referred in my answer to Parliamentary Question No. 153 of 24 March 2005, will impact of the processing time for applications for naturalisation. I will inform both the applicant and the Deputy as soon as I have reached a decision on the application in question.