Aodhán Ó Ríordáin (Dublin North Central, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for a certificate of naturalisation by a naturalised Irish citizen acting on behalf of their minor child since this has been made possible, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [54050/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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Section 16(b) 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 although the conditions for naturalisation (or any of them) are not complied with, where the applicant is a naturalised Irish citizen acting on behalf of a minor child of the applicant. Approximate figures available for the number of applications submitted by a naturalised parent on behalf of their minor child for the years 2005 to 2012 are: 400, 400, 400, 700, 1,300, 1,500, 2,400 and 3,900 respectively.

When I came into office in March, 2011, I was determined to tackle the backlog that had built up in the processing of applications for citizenship. To this end, a series of more streamlined measures have resulted in a major increase in the volume of applications processed with some 22,500 cases decided so far in 2012, almost three times the volume in 2010. The increased number of adult applications being approved has resulted in an almost tenfold increase since 2005 in the number of applications submitted by naturalised parents on behalf of their minor children.