Madam, – Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly has complained at the Government’s refusal to extend the remit of her office to cover asylum and naturalisation. This limitation is in marked contrast to her other EU counterparts.
I am not surprised as to why the Government has rejected such requests. Currently the waiting time for any new application for naturalisation – following legal residence here for five years – to be even opened for processing is more than four years. This waiting time was one year in the late 1990s and was around two years in 2002.
Some of the applicants to whom I have spoken are afraid to speak out. The office of the Ombudsman could have been one possible avenue for many would-be applicants to highlight this undue and unreasonable delay, which is unique in the Western world.
Perhaps it is a case of rights delayed being rights denied. – Yours, etc,