Willie Penrose (Longford-Westmeath, Labour)
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Question 773: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the delay in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Offaly who applied for naturalisation; if steps will be taken to ensure that same is dealt with without further delay; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31788/09]

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 February 2006. All applications are dealt with in chronological order as this is deemed to be the fairest to all applicants. The average processing time from application to decision is now at 24 months. More complicated cases can at times take more than the current average, while an element of straight forward cases can be dealt with in less than that timescale. Officials in the Citizenship Division inform me that processing of the application has been finalised and the file will be submitted to me for a decision shortly.

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. 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 it is not undervalued and is only given to persons who genuinely satisfy the necessary qualifying criteria.