Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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Question 151: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will review the naturalisation case of a person (details supplied) in County Kerry; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [13911/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Officials in the Citizenship section of my Department inform me that there is no record of an application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to in the Deputy's question.

Section 15 of 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 conditions are that the applicant must -

- be of full age

- be of good character

- have had a period of one year's continuous residency in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years

- have made, either before a Judge of the District Court in open court or in such a manner as the Minister for special reasons allows, a declaration in the prescribed manner, of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State.

In the context of naturalisation, certain periods of residence in the State are excluded. These include -

- periods of residence in respect of which an applicant does not have permission to remain in the State

- periods granted for the purposes of study

- periods granted for the purposes of seeking recognition as a refugee within the meaning of the Refugee Act, 1996.

Section 16 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that I may, in my absolute discretion, waive some or all of the statutory conditions, including residency, in certain circumstances including where an applicant is of Irish descent or of Irish associations.

It is open to any individual to lodge an application for citizenship if and when they are in a position to meet the statutory requirements as prescribed in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 as amended.

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