Judge John Neilan has said he will contact Navan District Court to find out why they are unable to deal with citizenship applications promptly.
He made the comment as he dealt with a number of applications from members of the African community in that District Court area who were unable to get a court date there before April.
One of the applicants said they had booked the formal part of their application, which involves a declaration of loyalty to the State in Mullingar because waiting for Navan would “take a long time”.
“I’ll get on to Navan and change their tune,” said the judge, adding that it wasn’t acceptable that the applications couldn’t be dealt with there “quickly, efficiently with courtesy and common sense”.
He told the applicants he was sorry the journey had been imposed on them.
