Joe McHugh (Donegal North East, Fine Gael)
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Question 368: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if the naturalisation process will be expedited in exceptional circumstances for persons (details supplied); and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24359/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, 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 conditions are fulfilled. These conditions are that the applicant must:

be of full age, or by way of exception, be a minor born in the State

be of good character

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

intend in good faith to continue to reside in the State after naturalisation

have made, either before a Judge of the District Court in open court or in such a manner as the Minister for special reasons allows, a declaration in the prescribed manner, of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State.

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

Normally, an application on behalf of a minor child cannot be made until one of the parents or guardians is naturalised. Currently there are 19,700 applications on hand to be dealt with. These are generally dealt with in chronological order as this is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants. There is a current waiting period of up to thirty months to process an application for citizenship. An application for citizenship has not been received in this case from either parents, or child, to date. It is open to the individuals concerned to lodge applications if and when they are in a position to meet the statutory residency requirements.