Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1012. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress to date in the determination of an application for naturalisation in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Dublin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37079/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I can inform the Deputy that the application has entered the final stage of processing and I intend to grant citizenship. A letter has issued to the person referred to by the Deputy asking her to submit the prescribed fee and other documents. Upon receipt of the fee and documentation, the case will be finalised. The person concerned will be invited in due course to attend a citizenship ceremony, at which she will make a declaration of fidelity to the Irish Nation and loyalty to the State and receive her certificate of naturalisation.

The Deputy may wish to note that 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 established specifically 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.

Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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1013. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress to date in the determination of eligibility for residency status/naturalisation in respect of a person (details supplied) in County Cork; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [37081/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) that the person concerned arrived in the State on 22 August 2008 and applied for asylum on 29 August 2008. The Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended refusal of her application for refugee status. This decision was subsequently upheld on appeal by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. A daughter was born to the person concerned on 18 November 2008 and an application for asylum was made on her behalf on 9 December 2008. The Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended that she be refused a declaration of refugee status and this decision was also subsequently upheld on appeal by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. The person concerned and her daughter were notified that they were not eligible for subsidiary protection on 23 June 2009. Having considered all representations on file, the then Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform signed Deportation Orders on 24 June 2009 in respect of the person concerned and her daughter. On 14 June 2010 Judicial Review proceedings were lodged in the High Court challenging the decisions taken, including the Deportation Orders, in respect of the person concerned and her daughter and, accordingly, as the matter is sub judice, I do not propose to comment further.

With regards to whether the Zambrano case has application in this case, the daughter of the person concerned is not, under the terms of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956 (as amended), an Irish citizen, nor is she a citizen of the European Union. Therefore, the decision in that case has no application to the person concerned or her daughter.

I should remind the Deputy that queries in relation to the status of individual immigration cases may be made directly to INIS by Email using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. The service enables up-to-date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek this information through the more administratively expensive Parliamentary Questions process.