Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 14 November 2023
336. Deputy Jackie Cahill asked the Minister for Justice if staff in the international protection office who were processing International Protection applications were moved to a different section during Covid-19; if so, whether they were replaced or reinstated since; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [49486/23]
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.
During the Covid-19 public health emergency, resources were allocated as required to ensure business delivery continued. A small number of experienced staff were temporarily reassigned to the Border Management Unit from the IPO during the pandemic to support that unit.
As part of the International Protection Office's (IPO) ongoing modernisation strategy, the IPO are increasing digitisation and speeding up decision-making to give clarity to those seeking protection as early as possible. There has been a significant increase in the number of staff in the IPO with an increase of 89% this year so far. I have secured funding in Budget 2024 to continue this investment in resources for the IPO.
The extra resources assigned have already seen a doubling of decisions in the IPO this year.
Staffing figures in the International Protection Office for the past 3 years are set out in the table below.
|
Year |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023* |
|
Number of staff |
147 |
180 |
206 |
389 |
*To 10 November 2023.
My Department has created a website to provide detailed statistics and metrics in relation to processing of applications for protection. These statistics are updated on a monthly basis.
www.gov.ie/en/collection/48a28-international-protection-in-numbers/
