My Department's records indicate that the total number of asylum applicants awaiting a final determination on their asylum applications as at 31 October 2000 is 12,859. I should explain that this figure takes account of all applications made up to that date.
The current processing time for processing asylum applications from initial application stage to the determination of an appeal – in cases where applicants avail of the opportunity to appeal – takes between four months – manifestly unfounded cases – and two years. In cases where there is no appeal the processing time is between four to 15 months. Any legal action could extend that period further.
The aim of my Department is to minimise the time taken from the date of application to completion of the procedure in a refugee determination process which meets the highest EU and international standards and enables applications to be processed within six months. As an illustration of this commitment, I recently received approval for the recruitment of 370 additional staff for, inter alia, the asylum case processing and appeals areas and to deal with consequential repatriations, and these additional resources are already in the process of being recruited.
