Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 218: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the reason the process of naturalisation for non-Irish citizens can take up to 26 months to process. [20429/11]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The average time taken to process applications for a certificate of naturalisation has been impacted by the substantial increase in the volume of applications over recent years. Upon coming into office I immediately commenced a review of the system of processing naturalisation applications and in that regard I recently announced a series of measures to bring about a substantial reduction in the processing timescales.

The new arrangements include improved application forms that came into force on Friday, 24th June 2011, and are currently available online with an associated online residence checker, streamlined and accelerated procedures for certain types of application and plans to recruit interns under the new Internship Programme. These measures are targeted at clearing the backlog of applications awaiting a decision in excess of six months by spring of next year and from that time on the aim is, save in exceptional circumstances, that persons applying for citizenship will be given a decision on their application within six months.

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.