Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 398: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if work related travel out of this jurisdiction has affected the qualification for naturalisation of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 22. [20620/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, 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 September 2007.

Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, specifies certain conditions which an applicant must fulfil in order to be eligible to apply for naturalisation. One such condition is that the applicant should have at least five years reckonable residence for the purposes of an application for naturalisation is time spent in the State with the permission of the Minister. The person in question did not have the permission of the Minister from May 2003 to September 2003, therefore it does not count as reckonable residency.

It is open to the individual in question to lodge a new application if and when she is in the position to meet the statutory residency requirement applicable at that time.