Liam Aylward (Carlow-Kilkenny, Fianna Fail)
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Question 261: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will process an application for citizenship for a person (details supplied) in County Carlow; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31217/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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There is normally no question of a British citizen being required to possess an Irish passport to travel from Ireland to the United Kingdom. I am, of course, prepared to expedite the processing of the application for naturalisation of the person concerned in view of the circumstances outlined in the Deputy's question and by the applicant herself in correspondence submitted with her application form. However, the process for naturalisation requires, among other things, the necessity for the person concerned to swear a declaration of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State in open court and the payment of a statutory fee, which would be €126.97 in this particular instance. In addition, it will be necessary to seek a report from the Garda. These are standard procedures applied to all applications for naturalisation and it is likely that the whole process would take a couple of weeks to complete.

In view of the particular urgency of her situation, the person concerned may wish to contact the British Embassy in Dublin with a view to obtaining a British passport. This may prove to be more straightforward, more economical and faster than the naturalisation process. In the meantime, I have asked my officials to deal with the naturalisation application as quickly as they can.