Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 March 2024
856. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Justice when retaining external decision-making service providers, how much her Department and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal spent on couriers and An Post in transmitting papers to the service providers in each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. [12190/24]
View answer863. Deputy Alan Kelly asked the Minister for Justice how much her Department and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal spent on facilities; and how much they spent on online hearing facilities, respectively, in each of the years 2021, 2022 and 2023. [12197/24]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 856 and 863 together.
The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) is a statutorily independent body and exercises a quasi-judicial function under the International Protection Act 2015.
As part of the ongoing modernisation of the international protection process, IPAT’s operational capacity is currently being significantly expanded to meet their increased caseload. A budget for 2024 of €9.23m has been provided for IPAT, which represents a significant increase on the €5.99m agreed for 2023.
Throughout 2023 and to date in 2024, the Tribunal has continued to conduct hearings both on-site and by way of remote audio-video technology, with the majority of hearings in 2023 (over 89%) having taken place via remote audio-video technology. The Tribunal also decides certain appeals on the papers, i.e. without an oral hearing.
The table below details how much was spent on on-line hearing facilities in 2021, 2022 and 2023.
|
IPAT Online Hearing Facilities Costs |
|
|
2021 |
€5,082.00 |
|
2022 |
€6,199.20 |
|
2023 |
€4,833.90 |
The table below details how much was spent on IPAT facilities. Please note that as IPAT share a building managed by the Department, the Department pays facilities costs for the building. The figures below therefore comprise office costs specifically incurred by IPAT.
|
IPAT Facilities Costs |
|
|
2021 |
€2,952.14 |
|
2022 |
€2,336.51 |
|
2023 |
€5,210.77 |
The table below details how much was spent by IPAT on couriers/ An post in relation to issuing papers to tribunal members papers in 2021, 2022 and 2023. Please note it is standard practice for Tribunal Members to collect papers in person from the IPAT office.
|
Couriers/ An Post In Relation To Getting Tribunal Members Papers |
|
|
2021 |
€4.61 |
|
2022 |
€25.82 |
|
2023 |
€0.00 |
