Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 399: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform his views on introducing a system whereby citizenship applicants can check the status of their applications on-line in view of the fact that the telephone information line is open only for a few hours each week and that callers are often unable to get through or are kept waiting on hold. [15353/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The granting of Irish Citizenship through Naturalisation is a privilege and an honour and not an entitlement.

Processing of applications for a certificate of naturalisation is a two stage process: 1) initial processing and 2) further processing. All applications that pass initial processing commence further processing in strict chronological order. Therefore the only status of relevance to an applicant is whether they have passed initial processing and whether they have commenced further processing. This information is already provided to the applicants by letter and on-line.

Applicants are informed by letter, within a week at present, whether their application has passed the initial processing stage. In the same letter, they are informed of the average timeframe from application to decision. Information on the average time from application to decision and what applications have commenced further processing is provided on the Irish Nationality and Immigration Services website and is also automatically provided on the telephone helpline introductory script to enable callers seeking this information to receive it without having to wait for an operator.

If there are any problems with an application that require the input of the applicant, the Citizenship Division contacts the applicant directly. The vast majority of queries to the Citizenship helpline relate to information, largely similar to that mentioned above, which has already been provided to each applicant by letter, on-line or on the helpline introduction.

I am sure the Deputy will be aware that, in an effort to improve its service to Oireachtas Members, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service has established a service to provide information/answers to queries in relation to individual immigration and citizenship cases by way of an e-mail address (INISOireachtasMail@justice.ie) which is exclusively for Oireachtas Members (and their authorised staff). A commitment was given that the majority of e-mails received would be responded to within 10 working days and I am informed that this commitment is being adhered to and, indeed, improved upon. In its first year of operation more than 4,000 enquiries were responded to within the timeframe. I would encourage TD's and Senators to make use of the service as it provides information for Oireachtas members in a timely and less costly way.