Seán Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael)
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Question 873: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason a person, with an Irish great grandparent who has lived in Ireland since the age of five, who was educated here at primary, secondary and third level, and who took Irish in junior and leaving certificate examinations is required to pay approximately €500 in applying to his Department for citizenship; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30015/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Since the Deputy has not provided details of the particular case, I can only set out the position generally. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Regulations, 1993, as amended, provides that the prescribed fee that shall be paid by the applicant on the issue of a certificate of naturalisation are as follows:

(a) where the application is made on behalf of a minor, a fee of €200;

(b) where the application is made by a widow or widower whose spouse was, immediately before death, an Irish citizen, and who has not, subsequent to the spouse's death, become a naturalised citizen of a state other than the State, a fee of €200;

(c) in the case of all other applications, a fee of €950;

(d) the fee payable under (a), (b) or (c) shall be nil, if the application for the certificate concerned is made by or on behalf of a refugee or stateless person or on behalf of a programme refugee.

The making of an application for a Certificate of Naturalisation is an individual's choice. Citizenship is a privilege not a right.