Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 November 2023
334. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Justice how many international protection applicants were received and how many were approved during all of 2022; how many were processed and how many were approved from the beginning of 2023 to 7 November 2023; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49483/23]
View answerMy Department is taking all necessary steps to manage the international protection process fairly and efficiently, as part of the broader Government response to this challenging issue.
The number of international protection applications last year was 13,651, a significant increase on recent years. It represents a 186% increase on the number received in 2019, the most recent year in which application numbers were not impacted by Covid-19.
In July this year, I published a report on the international protection modernisation programme for 2023 and 2024. As part of this programme, a number of measures have been implemented to improve efficiencies and throughput, in tandem with improvements to the application, interview and decision-making process. This programme builds on steps to increase the number of applications processed by 97% from 2,484 in 2021 to 4,899 in 2022.
These reforms are having a significant impact. The median processing time for first-instance decisions in for 2023 is ten months, a reduction from 18 months over the course of 2022. The median processing times for appeals in 2023 is five months, down from 15 months at the beginning of 2022.
As part of this programme, I signed a regulation on November 2022 to introduce an accelerated procedure for international protection applicants from safe countries of origin was introduced.
Applicants from safe countries of origin now receive a first instance decision in less than three months, which is a significant reduction from a norm of 22 to 26 months early last year. These reforms are being supported with significantly increased resources. Approximately €34m has been allocated in budget 2024 to the International Protection Office, IPO, and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal to continue to scale up processing. This will be supported by investment in human resources, infrastructure, technology, and process engineering. As part of the modernisation programme I have put in place, these resources and the impact they are having is being closely monitored and will be adjusted and refined as necessary.
As part of this programme, a number of measures have been implemented to improve efficiencies and throughput. This year, to end October 2023, the IPO completed 7,117 first instance decisions – an increase of 66.3% on the same period last year, increasing even further the rate of decisions year on year. The table below sets out IPO first instance grant and refusal decisions issued in 2022 and 2023 to end of October 2023*.
|
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 |
*To end October 2023. There is no correlation between year of application and year decision 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.
The Deputy may also wish to know that my Department has created a 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 are published on a monthly basis.
www.gov.ie/en/collection/48a28-international-protection-in-numbers/
