Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding an application for citizenship in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [38635/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that an application for a certificate of naturalisation from the person referred to by the Deputy was received in the Citizenship Division of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) in September, 2009 and I decided to refuse the application. The person concerned was informed of this and the reasons for it in a letter issued on 3 July, 2012. 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. One such condition is that I must be satisfied that the applicant is of good character.

It would be inappropriate for me to indicate how specific offences will be considered in any future application as each application is considered on its merits based on the entirety of the case presented. I can inform the Deputy that I am concerned to ensure that the threshold of what constitutes good character is, taking all things into account, maintained at an appropriate level and as such is fair to all applicants having regard to their particular circumstances.