Section 15 of the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended, provides that the Minister may, in his 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,
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.
In accordance with the legislation I make decisions on naturalisation applications based on all of the information available to me. Each application is assessed on its own merits and for me to comment beyond that on the specific matter referred to by the Deputy, save only to say that I do not exercise my discretion in deciding on individual cases in either an arbitrary or capricious manner, would carry a danger with it of fettering that discretion as provided for in law.