Paul Connaughton Snr (Galway East, Fine Gael)
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Question 203: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason an application for naturalisation by a person (details supplied) in County Galway has been deemed unsuccessful; if his attention has been drawn to the fact that the applicant only left the jurisdiction for two weeks in 2001, a similar length of time in 2002 and 2003, three weeks in 2004, two weeks in 2005 and did not leave the jurisdiction at all in 2006; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5641/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to in the Deputy's question was received in the Citizenship section of my Department on 6 July 2004.

The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. One of these conditions is that the applicant has 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, has had a total residence in the State amounting to four years.

In the context of determining if an applicant meets the residence requirement for naturalisation, certain periods of residence in the State must be 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.

An examination of the file of the person concerned revealed that he did not have one year's continuous reckonable residency immediately prior to lodging his application. He was informed of this determination on 11 December 2006.

It is open to the applicant to lodge a new application if and when he is in a position to meet the statutory requirements applicable at the time.