Michael Creed (Cork North West, Fine Gael)
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Question 367: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will expedite an application for naturalisation by persons (details supplied) in County Cork whose parents are recently naturalised; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [35927/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will appreciate that the granting of Irish Citizenship through naturalisation is an honour and applications must be processed in a way which preserves the necessary checks and balances to ensure that it is not undervalued and that it is given only to persons who satisfy the necessary qualifying criteria.

Applications for a certificate of naturalisation on behalf of the persons referred to in the Deputy's Question were received in the Citizenship Section of my Department in August 2008.

Applications on behalf of minors are dealt with by a separate unit in the Citizenship Section. Because they generally require less processing than standard adult applications, it is usually possible to finalise them more quickly. Based on current processing trends, it is expected that the applications on behalf of the persons concerned will be processed in January 2009.

Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 368: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will review the case of persons (details supplied) in County Westmeath. [35945/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Applications for certificates of naturalisation from the persons referred to in the Deputy's Question were received in the Citizenship Section of my Department in November 2007.

On examination of the applications submitted it was determined that three out of the four applications did not meet the statutory residency requirements as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended. Letters informing the persons in question were issued on 3 April, 2008 and 4 April, 2008.

It is open to the persons concerned to lodge new applications if they are in the position to meet the statutory residency requirements applicable at that time.

The fourth application did meet the statutory residence requirements and is being dealt with in chronological order as this is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants. Officials in that Section are currently processing applications received in June 2006. The current processing time for certificates of naturalisation is approximately 28 months.