Peadar Tóibín (Meath West, Aontú)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

1961. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of people given Irish citizenship after living in Ireland for less than five years, for each of the past ten years. [41251/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
Link to this: Individually | In context | Oireachtas source

All applications for a certificate of naturalisation are assessed individually in accordance with the provisions of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.

Section 15 of the Act sets out the statutory conditions that must be fulfilled for a certificate of naturalisation to be granted.

In general, applicants are required to have 5 years reckonable residence in the State prior to making an application. However, there are a small number of exceptions where a person in the State less than 5 years can apply for citizenship.

In all cases, the final 12 months must be continuous residence in the State with up to 70 days allowed to facilitate foreign travel for business family or holiday purposes.

Spouses of Irish nationals can apply for citizenship having 3 years reckonable residence in the State.

People granted International Protection can apply after 3 years from the date they are declared a refugee. It should be noted, however, that the time spent in the State prior to being granted international protection is not counted as reckonable for Citizenship such that in practice total residence upon naturalisation will often exceed 5 years.

Children who are born in Ireland after 1 January 2005 are automatically entitled to Irish Citizenship, if one of their parents are Irish or UK citizens, or if one of their parents has accumulated 3 years reckonable residence in the 4 years prior to their birth. When a child is not entitled to citizenship at birth, an application for naturalisation can be made on behalf of a child who is born in Ireland or whose parent have become a naturalised Irish citizen, provided that the child has 3 years reckonable residency in the State.

Applications of the above nature are received and processed by the Department in accordance with the relevant legislative provisions in each instance. While statistics are maintained on the broad categories of applicant, data is not available on the length of residence a person will actually hold at the point of being naturalised, and this will vary according to when a person chose to apply.