Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 1199 and 1238 of 18 September 2012, the way it is claimed that a person (details supplied) in County Dublin was out of the country when they were here in college and never left the country; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [41078/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I refer the Deputy to the second paragraph of my reply to Parliamentary Questions No. 1199 and 1238 of Tuesday, 18 September 2012 which is reproduced as follows. The position remains as stated.

Reply to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 1199 and 1238

I am advised 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 May, 2008 and my predecessor decided in his absolute discretion to refuse the application. The person concerned was informed of this and the reasons for it in a letter issued on 16 December, 2010.

A second application for a certificate of naturalisation was received in September, 2011. One of the statutory residency requirements as set out in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, is that an applicant have one year's continuous reckonable residence in the State immediately prior to the date of application. On examination of the application submitted, it was determined that the person in question had a gap in the permission to remain stamps in their passport for part of the period in question. The application was consequently deemed to be ineligible and the person concerned was informed of this in a letter issued on 15 August, 2012.

It is open to any individual to lodge an application for citizenship if and when they are in a position to meet the prescribed statutory requirements. The on-line Naturalisation Residency Calculator can be used as a guide to whether an individual satisfies the naturalisation residency conditions and, if not, give an indication of how long they should wait before making an application.

Queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy’s view, inadequate or too long awaited.