Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 648: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of an application for naturalisation by a person (details supplied); when a decision will be made regarding this application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6390/08]

Catherine Byrne (Dublin South Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 649: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the current status of an application for long-term residency by a person (details supplied); when a decision will be made regarding this application; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6391/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 648 and 649 together.

Officials in the Long Term Residency section of my Department inform me that there is no record of an application for Long Term Residency from the person referred to in the Deputy's Question.

An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person in question was received in the Citizenship section of my Department in September 2007.

The application has not yet been examined in detail. Examination of the residency requirement will take place in the near future and the applicant will be contacted again at that time informing him when his application will be further examined or of any shortfall in his residency.

Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 650: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the status of an application for a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6508/08]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory residency conditions are fulfilled. These conditions are that the applicant must:

have had a period of one year's continuous residency in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years.

In the context of naturalisation, 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

periods granted for the purposes of seeking recognition as a refugee within the meaning of the Refugee Act, 1996

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 September 2006. On examination of the application it was determined that the applicant did not meet the above mentioned residency requirements. A letter informing him of this was issued on 23 January 2007.

A second application was received in August 2007 and again the applicant failed to meet the statutory residency requirements. A letter informing him of this issued on 4 December, 2007.

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