Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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Question 258: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if, in respect of the revelations obtained by RTÉ under the Freedom of Information Act 1997 that staff in the naturalisation section of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service were ordered in July 2008 to stop processing citizenship applications until the higher fees came into effect, he approved this order; the number of applications delayed for this reason; if this delay had a knock-on effect which has contributed to the excessively long processing times as revealed in his reply to Parliamentary Question No. 278 of 12 May 2009; if he will refund the €300 difference to those applicants whose naturalisation was unfairly delayed for this reason; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [21075/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Certificates of naturalisation are issued on payment of the prescribed fee at the time of certification as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. Certification fees for Citizenship were last changed in 1993. The regulations that came into force on 1st August 2008 were the result of a review of citizenship fees that began some time prior to that date and merely bring the amounts in line with inflation for the period 1993-2008. While the fees are designed to reflect the effort and cost involved in processing the different categories of applicant, the current certification fees do not recoup the full cost of processing in any category.

As this is a certification fee, it is the date of issue of the certificate rather than the date of application that must be taken into account. Certificates of naturalisation can only be issued on payment of the prescribed fee at the time of certification. In practice, a necessary period of time elapses between when an applicant is informed of my decision and when the certificate is issued, because the applicant must make their declaration of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State in open court and also submit any supporting documentation. This period can range from a minimum of a couple of weeks to several months.

In the knowledge that almost 100% of applicants issued with letters of approval in July 2008 would not be issued certificates until after 1 August, 2008, it was decided not to issue any letters of approval for the weeks leading up to 1 August. This did not result in processing delays as resources were fully utilised on related work.

In order to prevent a scenario where we would require the applicants to submit the difference between the old fee quoted on their letter and the new fee due for all certificates issued after 1 August, 2008, it was decided that any applicant who was issued their letter of approval before that date, yet were liable to the new fees, would nonetheless be charged the old fee.

I am happy that this was the efficient and appropriate action to take. No applications were unfairly delayed and there are no refunds due as it is the prescribed fee at the time of certification that is applicable. In fact many people who received their letters in August and September 2008 did so many months earlier than they could have expected as August 2008 saw the first files processed by the expanded decentralised resources in Tipperary reaching decision stage.

The Deputy will be aware that the increased resources that I have allocated to this area have resulted in a considerable improvement in processing times over the past year even though the number of applications for a certificate of naturalisation has continued to see significant growth. However, 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.