Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 409: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he has received correspondence from the Immigrant Council of Ireland expressing concerns about certain aspects of the naturalisation process, in particular the policy of deferral of decisions and the excessive delay and cost when compared to several other countries; his views on this correspondence and on these concerns; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22995/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In a reply to recent correspondence from the Immigrant Council of Ireland I outlined the following:

The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended provides that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation, provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. In less than one per cent of cases, the Minister may in his absolute discretion defer making a decision on an application for a particular period of time, in order to consider that application further. This deferral is almost always to the advantage of an applicant whose application would otherwise have been refused, allowing them time to establish a more favourable track record. This practice enhances the fairness of the process.

There are currently over 16,000 applications for naturalisation with the Citizenship Division of this Department that are still awaiting a decision. This is primarily due to the significant increase in the volume of applications received in the last number of years. In 2002 there were 3,500 applications whereas in 2008, the number of such applications was 10,885. This upward trend seems set to continue and it is anticipated that applications for naturalisation will increase to over 15,000 in the present year.

Recently, substantial increased resources have been made available to this Department in order to reduce backlogs and provide a better quality service to all applicants. This has also had a positive impact on processing times. The average processing time from application to decision for the generality of valid applications for certificates of naturalisation is now at twenty three months. The Division is currently commencing further processing of applications received in late 2007.

The length of time taken to process each application should not be classified as a delay, as the length of time taken for any application to be decided is purely a function of the time taken to carry out necessary checks and the time taken waiting for resources to become available to perform those checks.

Upon receipt, an initial examination of each application is carried out to determine that the application form is completed fully and correctly and that all requested supporting documentation has been submitted. Passports and other documentation are then examined in detail and enquiries with the Garda National Immigration Bureau may also be necessary to determine if the applicant meets the statutory residency criteria as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended. A significant number of applications are initially found to be invalid for a variety of reasons and these are now being dealt with and returned to the applicant within a week.

Further processing takes place at a later stage and involves assessing an applicant's financial status in respect of their ability to support themselves in the State. Enquiries with the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Social and Family Affairs may be necessary in this regard. Investigations are also undertaken to determine if the applicant can be considered to be of good character. Depending on the complexity of any given case, these processes can take a lengthy time to complete. Once all enquiries are completed, the file is referred to the Minister for a decision.

I am sure that the Deputy will appreciate that a certificate of naturalisation is an exceptional and important document that facilitates a non-national becoming a citizen of Ireland. Therefore, 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. The procedures involved have been developed and refined over a number of years and the Minister is satisfied that they are necessary to maintain the integrity of the naturalisation process.

Certificates of naturalisation are issued on payment of the prescribed fee at the time of certification. Certification fees for citizenship were last changed in 1993. The regulations that came into force on 1 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 to 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.

The increased resources that have been 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, as I have pointed out, 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.