Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 527: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a review will be undertaken regarding an application for residency in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29519/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I refer the Deputy to Parliamentary Question No. 705 of Tuesday 27 January 2009 and the written Reply to that Question. The person concerned applied for asylum on 21 June 2002. His application was refused following consideration of his case by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and, on appeal, by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Subsequently, in accordance with Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), the person concerned was informed, by letter dated 14 April 2003, that the Minister proposed to make a Deportation Order in respect of him. He was given the options, to be exercised within 15 working days, of leaving the State voluntarily, of consenting to the making of a Deportation Order or of making representations to the Minister setting out the reasons why he should be allowed to remain temporarily in the State. Representations were submitted on behalf of the person concerned.

His case was examined under Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended) and Section 5 of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) on the prohibition of refoulement and all representations received were considered in arriving at a decision in his case. On 28 June 2004 a Deportation Order was signed in respect of the person concerned. Notice of this Order was served by registered post dated 11 January 2005. This communication advised the person concerned of the legal requirement that he present himself at the Offices of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) on 20 January 2005 in order to make travel arrangements for his deportation from the State. The person concerned failed to 'present' on this occasion and, as such, was classified as evading his deportation.

On 14 August 2008, an application for revocation of the Deportation Order, under Section 3 (11) of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended), was submitted on behalf of the person concerned and this application is currently under consideration in my Department. The person concerned will be notified in writing when a decision has been made on this application. The Deputy might wish to note that the documentation he refers to in his Question was submitted as part of the Section 3 (11) application to and will be duly considered.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 528: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the position in regard to the application for citizenship in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29520/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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An 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 June 2006.

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 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. Officials in the Citizenship Division of my Department inform me that processing of the application is at an advanced stage and the file will be submitted to me for a decision in due course.