EEA v's Naturalisation

[Tanic]

My husband & I have been married since Nov '10, 5 yrs & he has lived in Northern Ireland since Feb '11. I am Irish passport holder born in Northern Ireland & working F/T. My husband is non eea & his residence card is valid until July '16. He has been out of the country from May '14 - Oct '15.

Does the absence make it impossible to apply for naturalisation & should we just continue with the PR application & hope the absence doesnt affect this route?

[noajthan]

My husband & I have been married since Nov '10, 5 yrs & he has lived in Northern Ireland since Feb '11. I am Irish passport holder born in Northern Ireland & working F/T. My husband is non eea & his residence card is valid until July '16. He has been out of the country from May '14 - Oct '15.

Does the absence make it impossible to apply for naturalisation & should we just continue with the PR application & hope the absence doesnt affect this route?

There are rules about absences & maintaining continuity of residence under EU Regulations.
(They are quite different from the absence rules for naturalisation).

See http://www.eearegulations.co.uk/Latest/ByPage/part1_3

What was the reason for the absence?

As your husband entered country in February the absences will all pivot around 12 month periods based on February.
Looks like 2 periods of approx 9 & 8 months are involved during 2014-15.
It may be the PR clock has been reset by the absence.
As you know the dates and reason best of all you will need to dig into this further.