Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 424: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when the naturalisation process will be completed in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 1; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12187/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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An application for a certificate of naturalisation was received from the person referred to by the Deputy in April 2003. The application was submitted to me for a decision in March 2005 and I decided not to grant a certificate of naturalisation in that instance.

Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that an applicant for naturalisation must have one year's period of residence in the State before the date of the application and a total of four year's residence in the State in the eight preceding that period.

Section 16(g) of that Act provides that I may, in my absolute discretion, waive the statutory conditions in certain circumstances, including where the applicant is a person who is a refugee within the meaning of the United Nations Convention relating to the status of refugees. In considering applications under this provision, I am generally disposed to waiving two years of the normal residency requirement, thereby requiring such applicants to be resident in the State for three years at the time of the application. The three year period commences from the date the applicant arrived in the State to seek refugee status.

The reason for my refusal was disclosed to the applicant in the letter 6 April 2005 informing him of my decision. The applicant arrived in the State on 21 April 2001 and made his application for a certificate of naturalisation on 2 April 2003. As there were no circumstances apparent in the application which would lead me to depart from the general policy outlined above, I decided to refuse the application based on the fact that the applicant was not in the State three years at the time of the application.

Assuming that the person concerned has been resident in the State continuously since his arrival here in April 2001, he would now appear to have the appropriate residency and it is open to him to submit a new application at any time. Any such application will be considered against the statutory and administrative provisions in operation at the time the application is submitted.