Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if consideration has been given to reviewing Ireland's record on citizenship applications to international comparisons in terms of rejection rates and application processing times; his views on whether the processing time in Australia is generally 90 days, in the UK is six months, in Canada is 11 months as opposed to over two years here, and that the refusal rate in Canada is 3%, in Australia and the UK is 9% as opposed to 47% here; if he will establish a more efficient system for dealing with such applications here. [36043/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The immigration policies adopted by a country have a significant influence on the naturalisation process as both systems must link seamlessly. Immigration and naturalisation policies and systems vary from country to country and are therefore not directly comparable. For example, in the Australian system, the application for citizenship is only accepted once an applicant has satisfied other requirements, which are not part of the naturalisation process in the State. Because certain processing requirements are completed prior to allowing an applicant to submit their application, a quarter of applications in Australia receive a decision on the date of application, with the average being 3 months.

A review of the current framework for the acquisition of Irish citizenship is underway in my Department. Statutory provisions for the acquisition of Irish citizenship are contained in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. While the provisions of that Act have been amended on a number of occasions, in 1986, 1994, 2001 and 2004, to take account of significant policy developments in the State, it is now timely to look again at those provisions having regard to our recent immigration experience.

The review will consider a wide range of issues relating to the current statutory framework as well as other administrative arrangements in the granting of citizenship. Among the issues to be considered are eligibility periods for naturalisation, appropriate language and integration tests, proposals for a citizenship ceremony, as well as methods by which the current application procedures can be improved upon. Many countries have adopted integration, culture and language tests along with a number of other concepts such as earned citizenship in conjunction with longer residency requirements.

In addition, the Deputy will be aware that the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2008, which is currently before the House, contains significant proposals which will streamline and overhaul our immigration legislation. It will therefore be necessary to ensure that any new proposals on citizenship link with the policies outlined in the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill.

I expect to publish the review in 2010 and the review will be subject to public consultation before final proposals are published. In conducting a review of our citizenship requirements it must be remembered that the granting of an Irish citizenship application by the State is a privilege for its recipient, not an entitlement. It cannot be regarded as being automatically awarded to applicants who have simply been lawfully resident in the State for a specified length of time. On the contrary, naturalisation should be seen as a major and mutual commitment by the prospective citizen and the State. It is entirely appropriate in those circumstances that the State should require that the applicant demonstrate a real commitment to the nation. It is with this overarching principle in mind that the review is being conducted.

For clarity, the refusal figure quoted by the Deputy includes applications that were ineligible/invalid. The percentage of applicants who were refused a certificate of naturalisation in 2008 was 9%. In terms of efficiency, the average processing time has been reduced from 30 months to 24 months during a period of rapid growth in the volume of applications received. I am assured by my officials that all the procedures involved in processing an application are reviewed regularly to ensure that they are conducted as efficiently as possible. A number of refinements have been introduced this year. These include conducting identity checking and application quality assessment at the initial processing stage and giving the applicant feedback on the initial assessment within a week of receipt of the application.