Paschal Donohoe (Dublin Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 200: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will review the current fees in place for those wishing to apply for citizenship who are married to Irish citizens; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [3150/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The fees payable under the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 were most recently reviewed by me in late 2011. In November 2011, I signed into law Statutory Instrument 569/11, which left certification of naturalisation fees unchanged at €950 and introduced an application fee of €175 for all applications for naturalisation.

Managing and dealing with incomplete applications consumes scarce processing resources and the application fee is designed to recoup some of the costs associated with the application process. The application fee is also intended to help cover costs associated with the processing of unsuccessful applications that often consume more processing time and resources than successful applications, but which heretofore attracted no fee.

I might point out to the Deputy that the current certification fees, which have not changed since August 2008, do not recoup the full cost of processing. In the circumstances, I have no plans at present to review the fees payable by spouses of Irish citizens who wish to apply for Irish citizenship.http://www.inis.gov.ie/en/INIS/Pages/Citizenship Application Forms