Pat Breen (Clare, Fine Gael)
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Question 290: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position regarding an application by a person (details supplied) in County Clare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [24738/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Am 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 January 2008.

The average processing time from application to decision is now at 23 months. The Citizenship Division is currently commencing further processing of applications received in early 2008. More complicated cases can at times take more than the current average while an element of straight forward 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.