Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 177: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a matter has been investigated in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 8; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40554/08]

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. One such condition is that the applicant must be of good character. An application for a Certificate of Naturalisation from the person concerned was received in the Citizenship Section of my Department on 20 March 2006 and I decided to refuse the application. The reason for the refusal was disclosed to the applicant in a letter dated 3 July 2008.

It is open to the person in question to lodge a new application if and when she is in a position to satisfy the statutory requirements applicable at that time. However, in doing so she should bear in mind the reasons for refusal of her previous application.

Fergus O'Dowd (Louth, Fine Gael)
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Question 178: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will review the processing time for citizenship and naturalisation applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [40574/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The Deputy will appreciate that the granting of Irish Citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and a honour and not an entitlement. Applications must be processed in a way which preserves the necessary checks and balances to ensure that it is not undervalued and is only given to persons who genuinely satisfy the necessary qualifying criteria. The procedures involved in the processing of applications have been developed and refined over a number of years and I am satisfied that they are absolutely necessary to maintain the good reputation of our citizens and integrity of the naturalisation process. Consequently, there is a limit to the reduction in the processing time that can be achieved.

The decentralisation of the Citizenship Section to Tipperary Town in April has resulted in a substantial increase in the staffing resources available to the section. This has had a positive impact on reducing the number of naturalisation applications on hand and will in time see a significant reduction in processing time scales. Officials in the Citizenship Section are currently processing applications received in July 2006.