James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 211: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the reason it would take two years, as outlined on his Department's website to process an application for Irish citizenship in respect of an English person who has been married to an Irish citizen for twenty eight years; the justification for a fee of €950, payable on acceptance and if the delay is due to staff shortages and if so the reason it is not possible to transfer underemployed staff from other areas to expedite these applications; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [44026/10]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In the absence of details relating to a specific case, the Deputy will appreciate that I am unable to provide a definitive response. However, I can advise of the position generally. At the outset, I should point out that the legislation governing naturalisation does not provide an inherent right to any applicant to a grant of naturalisation on foot of their application. Citizenship in this context is a privilege, not an entitlement.

A Certificate of Naturalisation is an exceptional and important document that facilitates a non-national becoming a citizen of Ireland. The making of an application for a certificate of naturalisation is an individual's choice. Applications 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. 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. The average processing time from application to decision for the generality of valid applications for a certificate of naturalisation is currently 26 months and this has been maintained despite the substantial increases in the volume of applications received in recent years. This has been possible as a result of the allocation of additional resources to the Division and further refinement of procedures. These procedures have been developed and refined over a number of years and continue to be kept under review by my Department to ensure that the integrity of the naturalisation process is maintained.

Certificates of naturalisation are issued on payment of the prescribed fee at the time of certification as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. Certification fees for Citizenship were last changed in 2008.