Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 1021: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the position regarding an application for residency and citizenship in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32629/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The person concerned claimed asylum in the State on2/3/2005 and had his claim examined by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner following which it was recommended that he should be recognised as a refugee. Based on this recommendation, the person concerned was issued with a formal declaration of refugee status by letter dated 24/6/2005. This communication also advised the person concerned of the rights and entitlements accompanying refugee status in the State. The person concerned continues to hold the status of refugee in the State.

A valid 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 April 2008.

All valid 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 26 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. However, because of the Government's obligations under the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, every effort is made to ensure that applications from persons with refugee status are dealt with as quickly as possible. Officials in the Citizenship Division inform me that processing of the application is ongoing and the file will be submitted to me for a decision in due course.

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. 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.

I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual Immigration/Asylum cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. The service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek this information through the more administratively expensive Parliamentary Questions process.