Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 209: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if residency to date will suffice in an application for naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 24; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25483/06]

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.

The person in question arrived in the State in February 1997 and applied for asylum. Her application was refused in June 1998 and an appeal against this decision was refused in April 1999. She subsequently applied for permission to remain in the State on foot of her marriage to a refugee. This application was refused in June 2002. Temporary leave to remain as an exceptional measure was granted to the person concerned in November 2004.

My Department's records indicate that the person in question had permission to remain in the State continuously between November 2004 and November 2005. She has also been granted permission to remain from February 2006 until November 2006. There is no record that she has had permission to remain for the period December 2005 and January 2006 and, consequently, this period is not reckonable for naturalisation.

According to my officials' calculations, the earliest that the person in question will meet the above mentioned residency requirement is January 2010, provided, of course, she maintains her permission to remain in the State between now and then without any gaps.