The Ministerial Decisions Unit (MDU) of my Department processes the recommendations received from the International Protection Office (IPO) and the decisions of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT).
Procedural enhancements within MDU are currently being introduced and are expected to reduce processing time for individual grants of international protection to approximately one week following receipt of a recommendation from the IPO or IPAT.
The following table provides the average processing time for decisions by MDU for each of the years 2017 to 2019.
Year
|
Average Processing Time for Decision by MDU
|
2017
|
26 Days
|
2018
|
58 Days
|
2019
|
79 Days
|
Due to the ongoing Covid-19 situation there have been delays to the time frame for the issuing of international protection decisions. All applicants for international protection who are in receipt of recommendations from the IPO or the IPAT, will hear from the Ministerial Decision Unit in due course in relation to the outcome of their applications and their position in the State. In the meantime, they remain applicants under the International Protection Act 2015.
They have been advised that if their Temporary Residence Card (TRC) is due to expire, they should consult the IPO website http://www.ipo.gov.ie/ or contact the IPO. Resumption of normal timeframes remains under constant review subject to the advice of the HSE and the Chief Medical Officer and once commenced, decisions will be issued as quickly as possible.