Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent)
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131. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality with regard to citizenship, if she can waive the waiting period that one has to wait if a Deputy makes strong representations on behalf of a person and believes it is a genuine situation; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [27488/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I take it the Deputy is referring to the length of time taken to process an application and I am pleased to inform him there is no waiting period as such in relation to the processing of applications for naturalisation with a majority of cases now being processed within six months.

Applications are continuously processed from date of receipt. Enquiries are made to establish if the applicant satisfies the conditions for naturalisation such as residency and good character. 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. There are no circumstances under which these necessary checks would be waived as to do so would undermine the integrity of the process. The nature of the naturalisation process is such that, for a broad range of reasons, some cases will take longer than others to process and, in some instances, completing the necessary checks can take a considerable period of time. It is recognised that all applicants for citizenship would wish to have a decision on their application without delay and every effort is made to process each application as expeditiously as possible, having regard to the particular circumstances of the case.

As the Deputy is no doubt aware, the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, requires that an applicant for naturalisation is required to have one year's continuous reckonable residence in the State immediately before the date of the application and, during the eight years preceding that, to have a total reckonable residence amounting to four years. The INIS website www.inis.gov.ie includes a residency calculator to assist prospective applicants in this regard. Section 16 of that act provides that I may, in my absolute discretion, waive the conditions for naturalisation in certain circumstances, for example where the applicant has Refugee status or is of Irish associations.

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.