Mary O'Rourke (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail)
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Question 356: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will review the case of persons (details supplied) in County Westmeath who seek completion of their naturalisation process. [17642/09]

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 Division of my Department in August 2007. Officials in that section inform me that both applications are at an advanced stage of processing and the files will be submitted to me for a decision in due course. The average processing time from application to decision is now at 23 months. 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 timescale. 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.