Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 625: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will grant permission for renewal of application for naturalisation in the care of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15. [28127/06]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The first named applicant arrived in the State on 10 July 2003 and applied for asylum on 11 July 2003. She was granted refugee status on 14 September 2004. The second named applicant arrived in the State on 8 November 2003, applied for asylum on 11 November 2003 and was granted refugee status on 12 August 2004. Both persons applied for certificates of naturalisation on 28 January 2005.

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 continuous residence in the State before the date of the application and a total amounting to four year's residence in the State in the eight year's 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 waive two years of the normal residency requirement, thereby requiring such applicants to have been resident in the State for three years at the time of application. The calculation of the three year period commences from the date the applicant arrived in the State to seek refugee status.

As there were no circumstances apparent in either application which would lead me to depart from the general policy outlined above, I decided to refuse the applications based on the fact that the applicants were not in the State three years at the time of the application. The reason for my refusal was disclosed to the first and second named applicants in the letters of 22 November 2005 and 19 October 2005 respectively informing them of my decision.

Assuming that both individuals have been resident in the State continuously since their arrival here in 2003, the first named person will have the necessary residency on 11 July 2006. The second named person will have the necessary residence on 8 November 2006. If the two persons concerned decide to submit new applications in the future, any such applications will be considered against the statutory and administrative provisions in operation at the time the applications are submitted.