Gerald Nash (Louth, Labour)
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Question 103: To ask the Minister for Justice and Law Reform the reasons for the delay in processing an application for a residence card and Irish passport in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; if it is his intention to grant residency to the person; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [6086/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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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 2011. The Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in his absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. The person concerned did not fulfil all of the statutory conditions, consequently, the Citizenship Division of my Department have deemed the application ineligible. The person in question was informed of this decision in a letter issued to him on 21 February, 2011.

It is open to the person concerned to lodge a new application for a certificate of naturalisation if and when they are in a position to meet the statutory requirements. I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual Immigration cases may be made direct to INIS by Email 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.