Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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299. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applications for naturalisation that have been made in the case of a person (details supplied) in County Kildare; the reason these applications were refused, in view of the fact that the person has lived here since 1999, and is a European Union national [6758/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised that 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) in August, 2005 and in 2009 the then Minister for Justice decided in his absolute discretion to refuse the application. The person concerned was informed of this and the reasons for it in a letter issued, via her solicitor on 31 March, 2009.

A second application for a certificate of naturalisation was received in September, 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 Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended. The person concerned was informed of this in a letter issued on 12 November, 2014.

It is open to any individual to lodge an application for citizenship if and when they are in a position to meet the prescribed statutory requirements. The online Naturalisation Residency Calculator 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.

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.