John Lyons (Dublin North West, Labour)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of cases currently awaiting decision in his Department based on the Zambrano judgement; the criteria being used to decide on cases under the Zambrano judgement; and if he will detail the level of discretion used as part of this process [4628/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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As of 23rd January, 2013, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service had 784 cases on hands where the applicants were seeking a right of residency in the State, accompanied by a right to work, based on the principles of the European Court of Justice Judgment in the Zambrano case. Of these, 416 cases cannot be progressed further until the documentation requested from the relevant applicants has been received while the remaining 368 cases are made up of cases which are at various stages of processing and those cases which have just recently been received and, as such, no detailed examination of the documentation submitted has yet taken place.

Given the facts of the Zambrano case, the criteria to be met in each individual case are that each applicant parent must be a third country national who is residing in the State with their Irish born minor citizen child or children, they must be playing a significant role in the upbringing of their Irish born minor citizen child or children and the applicant parent's immigration circumstances must be such that if a decision was taken to refuse him or her a right of residency, the Irish born minor citizen child or children would be at risk of being expelled from the State and, by extension, the EU and, as such, they would not be able to enjoy the substance of their rights as an Irish and EU citizen.

Decisions in Zambrano type cases are based on the provisions of national legislation and outside of the criteria referrred to above, discretion is applied as necessary on a case by case basis including cases where serious or persistent criminality is involved. Following the Zambrano Judgment, I used my discretion to direct my Officials to urgently examine all cases before the courts involving third country national parents of Irish born minor citizen children to see where such cases could be settled based on the principles of the Zambrano Judgment, and without waiting for the High Court to make rulings in each individual case. This approach alone has led to 134 cases being taken off the High Court's Asylum List which provided a substantial dividend for the Court in terms of reducing its workload and also brought legal certainty to the Irish born minor citizen children and the family units involved.

James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the position regarding naturalisation in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Longford who has lived here for the past 12 years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4629/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that an application for a certificate of naturalisation was received from the person referred to by the Deputy in October, 2010. The application is at an advanced stage of processing and the applicant will be informed of my decision in due course.

As well as being a significant event in the life of its recipient, the granting of Irish citizenship through naturalisation as provided for in law is also a major step for the State 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.

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.