Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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363. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the grounds on which an application for naturalisation in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 14 was refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [4429/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in her absolute discretion, grant an application for a certificate of naturalisation provided certain statutory conditions are fulfilled. The conditions are that the applicant must: be of full age; be of good character; have had a period of one year's continuous residency in the State immediately before the date of application and, during the eight years immediately preceding that period, have had a total residence in the State amounting to four years; intend in good faith to continue to reside in the State after naturalisation; have, before a judge of the District Court in open court, in a citizenship ceremony or in such manner as the Minister, for special reasons, allows— (i) made a declaration, in the prescribed manner, of fidelity to the nation and loyalty to the State, and (ii) undertaken to faithfully observe the laws of the State and to respect its democratic values.

A foreign national who is married to, or is the civil partner of, an Irish citizen for at least three years may apply for naturalisation under section 15A of the Irish Naturalisation and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, where the applicant has: been continuously resident in the island of Ireland for the year immediately prior to the date of his or her application; and has in addition been resident in the island of Ireland for two out of the four years prior to that year.

The marriage or civil partnership must be subsisting and recognised under Irish law. Section 15A provides that the Minister may waive certain conditions for naturalisation if satisfied that the applicant would suffer serious consequences in respect of his or her bodily integrity or liberty if not granted Irish citizenship.

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) on 19 November, 2014. On examination of the application submitted it was determined that the person in question did not meet the statutory residency requirements as set out in the Act and referred to above. The person concerned was informed of this by letter on 20 January, 2015.

It is open to the individual referred to by the Deputy to lodge a further application for citizenship if and when he is in a position to meet the prescribed statutory requirements. The on-line Naturalisation Residency Calculator available on the INIS web-site at www.inis.gov.ie 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.

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.