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Direct Provision System

Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 24 March 2021

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

Questions (1251)

Pa Daly

Question:

1251. Deputy Pa Daly asked the Minister for Justice her views on recommendation 6.7 of the Day report being under consideration as per page 144 of the White Paper to End Direct Provision and to Establish a New International Protection Support Service in particular focusing on the recommendations in relation to the granting of leave to remain to existing applicants. [14876/21]

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Written answers

My Department is committed to implementing our responsibilities under the White Paper to End Direct Provision and Establish a New International Protection Support Service, which was recently published by my colleague, Minister O'Gorman.

I have established a Programme Board in my Department to oversee the implementation of the relevant recommendations of the Expert Advisory Group and the White Paper. This is supported by an Implementation Working Group comprising senior officials from the relevant areas of my department to support their implementation and to report to the Board on progress at regular intervals.  The Programme Board will report directly to the Cabinet Committee on Social Affairs and Equality on progress in this regard, while my Department will also be represented on a Programme Board to be established and chaired by Minister O'Gorman, which will set performance indicators for the new model and monitor progress against those indicators. 

There are a number of interconnected and interdependent recommendations in the Advisory Group Report and the White Paper relating to the international protection process, including recommendation 6.7.

The White Paper proposes that the new system should be phased in and operational by 2023 and that the intervening period should provide an opportunity to progress improvements in the overall processing times for international protection.

My Department is committed to making further efficiencies in the international protection process.  In this regard, the White Paper commits to implementing the key recommendations in the Advisory Group Report to reduce processing times of both first instance decisions and appeals to 6 months respectively.

Work is underway in my Department towards Identifying mechanisms which will assist with working towards improved processing times.  Additional ICT resources have been secured for 2021 and detailed work including an end-to-end review of processes to guide enhanced processing times is underway. When this first phase of work has been carried out it will enable a more detailed set of milestones to be put in place.

The Advisory Group's recommendation in relation to the establishment of a one-off simplified, case-processing approach applying to all applicants who will have been two years of more in the system being granted leave to remain, will be considered by the High Level Programme Board as part of the ongoing analysis of progress towards achieving the objectives outlined in the White Paper.

My Department will, by October 2022 at the latest, commence a review of progress made in reducing and improving processing times and based on the outcome of that review, decide by the end of 2022, whether additional measures are required in order to ensure that the new system can come into operation without the overhang of any significant number of legacy cases.

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