Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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Question 113: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will extend the stamp 4 status and re-examine the case of residency and naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [12231/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The persons concerned, a husband and wife, were granted permission to remain in the State, on Stamp 4 conditions, initially for a one year period to 26th January, 2006, following the consideration of their respective cases under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999 (as amended). This permission was renewed on a number of subsequent occasions, most recently on 24th June, 2008, when the persons concerned were granted permission to remain in the State for a further three year period, to 24th June, 2011.

An application for a certificate of naturalisation from the first named person concerned was received in the Citizenship Division of my Department in November, 2002. On examination of the application it was determined that the person concerned did not meet the statutory requirements as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. A letter informing the applicant of this was issued on 1st February, 2005. No new application has since been received.

A valid application for a certificate of naturalisation from the second named person concerned was received in the Citizenship Division of my Department in July, 2010. The application is currently being processed with a view to establishing whether the applicant meets the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation and will be submitted to me for decision as expeditiously as possible.

In that context, as I outlined in response to Parliamentary Question Number 69 of 7th April last, I can inform the Deputy that I have initiated steps within my Department to provide for the speedier processing of naturalisation applications to bring about a substantial reduction in the processing time-scale. The new arrangements will be publicly announced once my Department is in a position to implement them.

The granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation is a privilege and an honour which confers certain rights and entitlements not only within the State but also at European Union level and it is important that appropriate procedures are in place to preserve the integrity of the process.

I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly 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.