Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
Link to this: Individually | In context

Question 254: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the procedures to be followed by a person (details supplied) who is anxious to obtain citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6290/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
Link to this: Individually | In context

The person referred to by the Deputy arrived in the State in August 2000 and claimed asylum. That application was refused in January 2001 and an appeal was not submitted within the permitted time limits. I informed the Deputy in response to Question No. 22 of 2 February last that the person was granted permission to remain in the State on 30 September 2002 on foot of her parentage of an Irish-born child. She has permission to remain in the State until September 2007.

The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may in his absolute discretion grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation as long as certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. The applicant must be of full age or, by way of exception, be a minor born in the State; be of good character; have had a period of one year's continuous residency in the State immediately before the date of the application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years; intend in good faith to continue to reside in the State after naturalisation; and have made, either before a judge of the District Court in open court or in such a manner as the Minister for special reasons allows, a declaration in the prescribed manner of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State.

It should be noted in the context of naturalisation that certain periods of residence in the State are excluded. These include periods of residence in respect of which an applicant does not have permission to remain in the State, periods granted for the purposes of study and periods granted for the purposes of seeking recognition as a refugee within the meaning of the Refugee Act 1996. That means that time spent in the State by the person concerned prior to September 2002 is not reckonable for naturalisation. The earliest date she is eligible to apply for naturalisation is September 2007, as long as she has maintained her permission to remain without any gaps since it was first granted in September 2002.

The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 2004, which came into operation on 1 January 2005, provided for significant changes in the eligibility to Irish citizenship of persons born in the island of Ireland. On the basis that the person concerned gave birth to the child in question after 1 January 2005, it would have been necessary for her to have resided in the State for three years in the four year period before the date of birth of the child. For the purposes of calculating this three year period, time spent in the State without the permission of the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform or where such permission was for the purposes of seeking asylum does not reckon. Consequently, unless the child was born after 30 September 2005 — three years from the date the person concerned obtained permission to remain in the State — the child is not entitled to Irish citizenship.

Further information on the naturalisation process may be obtained from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform's website, www.justice.ie, or by telephoning the citizenship section helpline — at lo-call 1890 551500 or 01 6167700 — on Tuesdays or Thursdays between 10 a.m. and 12.30 p.m.