Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 November 2023
326. Deputy Matt Shanahan asked the Minister for Justice the current average processing time for international protection applications; of the applications received in the years 2021, 2022 and 2023, the percentage which progress to residency permission; the percentage which are refused; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49425/23]
View answerMy Department takes all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.
The number of staff in the International Protection Office (IPO) has increased by 89% this year. The extra resources assigned have already seen a doubling of decisions in the IPO this year.
In addition to resourcing, it is important to acknowledge that action has already been taken by the Department to manage the high volume of applications by utilising all of its current resources. A number of measures have been implemented to improve efficiencies and throughput, in tandem with improvements to the application, interview and decision making process, and these are having a significant impact on processing times.
I introduced a new accelerated procedure for international protection applicants from safe countries of origin was introduced in November 2022 which has significantly reduced processing times for first instance decisions.
The current median processing time for all applications at the IPO is 14 months, down from a median processing time of 18 months in 2022.
In addition to the above assigned staffing numbers, case processing Panel Members are contracted by the Department to make recommendations on International Protection cases to the International Protection Office. The number of panel members recruited in the IPO has also increased during 2023.
These resources are supported by increased training and quality control support from the UNHCR.
The International Protection Appeals Tribunal's (IPAT) operational capacity is also currently being significantly expanded to meet their increased caseload. Additional resources are being deployed through increasing the number of Tribunal members as well as further recruitment of administrative staff.
Please see below the total number of applications received for 2021, 2022 and 2023 to date.
|
Year of Application |
No. of Applications |
|
2021 |
2,649 |
|
2022 |
13,651 |
|
2023 |
10,869* |
*Up to 10 November 2023
The data in the table below shows the latest statistics on first instance decisions.
|
Decision Year |
Refugee Status (RS) Grants |
Subsidiary Protection (SP) Grants |
Permissions to Remain (PTR) Grant |
Refusal All (RS, SP & PTR) |
Withdrawals |
Total Decisions |
|
2022 |
1388 |
70 |
2076 |
871 |
492 |
4,897 |
|
2023* |
2014 |
206 |
472 |
4097 |
328 |
7,117 |
There is no correlation between year of application and year decision is issued. The higher proportion of cases granted permission to remain in 2022 reflects the impact of the International Protection strand of the regularisation arrangements introduced in parallel with the general undocumented scheme.
Applicants with refugee status, subsidiary protection or permission to remain have permission to reside in the state.
First instance decisions can be appealed to IPAT. To the end of September, IPAT closed 1,106 cases this year, and upheld 72% of IPO decisions.
The Deputy may also wish to know that my Department has created a new website to provide a detailed overview of the International Protection process in Ireland which can be accessed at:
www.gov.ie/en/campaigns/304ba-international-protection/.
This site also provides detailed statistics and metrics in relation to processing of applications for protection. These statistics will be published on a monthly basis.
www.gov.ie/en/collection/48a28-international-protection-in-numbers/.
