Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 234: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the current or expected position in the matter of an application for naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9977/08]

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 July 2004.

On examination of the application it was determined that the person concerned did not meet the statutory residency requirements as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. Letters informing the applicant of this were issued on 3 October 2005, 20 October 2005 and again on 15 February 2007.

A new application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person in question was received in the Citizenship Section of my Department in July 2007.

Officials in that Section are currently processing applications received in the middle of 2005 and have approximately 13,500 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 the fairest to all applicants.

However, I understand that the person concerned is a refugee and in accordance with the Government's obligations under the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, every effort is made to ensure that applications from persons with refugee status are dealt with as quickly as possible. I will inform the Deputy and the person in question when I have made a decision on the matter.