Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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404. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality if her Department can confirm that a person (details supplied) in Dublin 15 was resident in the State for the purposes of being eligible to play for the Irish national soccer team. [36046/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I am advised by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that an application for a certificate of naturalisation in respect of the minor referred to by the Deputy was processed with a view to establishing whether the statutory conditions for the granting of naturalisation were met, and a certificate of naturalisation issued on 12 April 2013. Five years residence is not required for naturalisation of a minor child of a naturalised Irish citizen.

With regard to the Deputy's request for confirmation that the person concerned was resident in the State for the required period for the purposes of being eligible to play for the Irish national soccer team, minor children under the age of 16 are not required to register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau. Accordingly INIS is not in a position to confirm that the person concerned was continuously and lawfully resident in the State for the required period. However, it should be a straightforward matter for the person himself to demonstrate that he was resident in the State.

I understand that a response has issued to the correspondence to which the Deputy refers.

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.