Brendan Howlin (Wexford, Labour)
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Question 231: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform when an application for naturalisation in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Wexford will be dealt with by his Department; the waiting time for processing of naturalisation applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [8273/09]

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 Division of my Department in August 2006. Officials in that Section inform me that processing of the application has commenced and the file will be submitted to me for a decision in due course.

The average processing time from application to decision is now at 22 months. The Citizenship Division is currently commencing further processing of applications received in mid 2007. More complicated cases can at times take more than the current average while an element of straightforward cases are now being dealt with in less than that time scale.

There is a limit to the reduction in the processing time that can be achieved as applications for naturalisation must be processed in a way which preserves the necessary checks and balances to ensure that the status of citizenship is not undervalued and is only given to persons who genuinely satisfy the necessary qualifying criteria.