Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 588: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when persons (details supplied) in County Waterford will receive their certificates of naturalisation. [30695/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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Applications for certificates of naturalisation from the persons referred to in the Deputy's Question were received in the Citizenship section of my Department in March 2005. Officials in that section inform me that there has been some confusion regarding a valid address for the persons concerned. As correspondence sent to the address provided by the couple has gone unanswered, officials have now written to their solicitor, as per their initial request.

The first-named person referred to in the Deputy's question is required to provide further documentation before processing of his application can continue and a letter has recently issued to his solicitor to that effect. On examination of the application of the second person concerned, it was determined that, on the date the application was made, she did not meet the residency requirements as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. However, she subsequently did acquire the necessary residency by the time the application was reached for processing. In this regard the Citizenship section has invited the person in question to make a new application under her existing application number — the purpose of which is to ensure that the applicant does not lose her place in the processing queue. The individual in question must submit the completed application form and all supporting documents to the Citizenship section within the next two months. I will inform the Deputy and the persons in question when I have reached a decision on their applications.

Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 589: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when a person (details supplied) in County Offaly will receive their certificate of naturalisation. [30696/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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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 in December 2006. Officials in that section are currently processing applications received at the beginning of 2005 and have approximately 10,400 applications on hand to be dealt with before that of the person concerned. These are generally dealt with in chronological order as this is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants. It is likely, therefore, that further processing of the application will commence by mid 2009. I will inform the Deputy and the person in question when I have reached a decision on the matter.