walrusgumble
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some bad news. for those who use to be able to go to court yo seek mandamus order (force minister to stop delaying) after 1 1/2 years as in the case of Edwards J KM 2007 IEHC 234, the following case, which may stop people seeking an early decision unless they can show that they are seriously prejudice in relation to failure to get citizenship application considered within 1 1/2 years
N v MJELR
http://www.courts.ie/Judgments.nsf/0985 ... enDocument
I'll give it a try and I am open for corrections.
As far as I understand, the applicant Pakistani national who arrived in Ireland as a student, then got a w/p and married an irish national, applied for naturalisation in 2007 on the basis of being a spouse of irish national. however, he wasn't happy with the long delays and issued JR proceedings agains the minister for justice (mandamus) to have his application processed ahead of everyone. in the meantime, he got naturalised but the court procedings went ahead as they weren't cancelled (as far as i understand). the applicant lost his case for mandamus, as he couldn't prove that there was prejudice against him, he didn't provide any special circumstances (the only one presented was that he couldn't vote) or that he was more special than anyone else in the queue for naturalisation to have his application processed ahead of everyone else.
the judge concluded that the minister cannot be limited by the time needed to consider applications for naturalisation and cannot be pressed to make urgent decisions.
the applicant got on easily, as he didnt have to cover the costs for the minister, but the judge pointed out that any subsequent unsuccessful mandamus application would have to pay their own costs and the costs for the dep. of justice.
not sure how much the costs are, but i would imagine it would be in tens thousands of euros...
that would be my interpretation of the read document, however, I am open to corrections from the legal profesionals.