Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Question 304: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if time spent here on the now discontinued inter-company transfer scheme visa is considered towards the requirements for time living legally here when assessing applications for naturalisation; the waiting time for a naturalisation application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4481/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that applicants for naturalisation, other than spouses of Irish citizens, must have been resident in the State for five years of the nine year period prior to the date of application. Residence in this context means residence for which the applicant had the permission of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and where such permission was not for the purpose of study or seeking asylum. Generally speaking, reckonable residence is calculated from stamps in applicants' passports and from departmental and Garda records.

I understand that persons who arrived in the State as a result of an inter-company transfer were regarded as having the permission of the Minister and the exclusions mentioned above did not apply. In such circumstances, time spent in the State by a person on an inter-company transfer is reckonable for naturalisation purposes as long as that person had the permission of the Minister to reside here.

Persons who received permission to reside in the State on the basis of an inter-company transfer — a scheme that is now defunct — were expected to remain in the State for a limited period of time and then return to the parent organisation abroad which posted him or her to Ireland. In those circumstances, I would not normally expect a person who came to Ireland as an inter-company transferee to remain long enough here to qualify for naturalisation. However, each application for naturalisation by a inter-company transferee will be examined on its merits.