Written Answers. - Asylum Applications.
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:
181
Mr. Howlin
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
the date by which his Department's target for reducing processing time for asylum applications to six months will be achieved, including determinations at first instance and appeal; and the number of applications which are expected to be processed per month by the date in question.
[5277/01]
As the Deputy will be aware, last year the Government agreed the allocation of major additional resources including the recruitment of 370 additional staff aimed at the speeding up of processing times in respect of asylum applications, including appeals, and to deal with the consequential increase in the level of repatriations of people whose applications for refugee status are unsuccessful.
The additional resources, including staff, being allocated to the Department are being utilised to achieve a number of strategic objectives, namely, greatly increasing processing capacity, including appeals, to deliver more speedy decisions in relation to applications for refugee status leading, in due course, to the completion to finality of the processing of all new asylum applications within a six month period – which will ensure that those who are genuine refugees will receive decisions on their applications much more speedily and that non-genuine applications will also be dealt with on a faster basis, the elimination of the asylum applications currently on hands as soon as possible and dealing with the increased numbers of repatriations which are expected to arise in respect of persons whose applications for refugee status are refused.
While a significant number of the additional staff are now in place and have either undergone or are receiving the necessary training at present, the remainder are being recruited, in the main, by a special competition organised by my Department which is being advertised at the present time.
In relation to the processing of asylum applications, the specific objective is to achieve significantly accelerated processing times with a view to having a first instance processing capacity of 1,400 per month and an appeals processing capacity of 1,000 appeals per month. The achievement of these objectives is dependent on a number of factors including applications remaining at present levels, the additional staff being fully in place and trained and additional accommodation being acquired. Once this is achieved a realistic assessment of time scales in relation to the objective of reducing processing time for asylum applications to six months will be feasible.
Under the Refugee Act, 1996, responsibility for processing asylum applications at first instance lies with the Refugee Applications Commissioner and with the Refugee Appeals Tribunal for appeals.
Brendan Howlin
Ceist:
182
Mr. Howlin
asked the
Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform
if prior transit through another European Union state is considered sufficient grounds for declaring an asylum application to be manifestly unfounded; the number of applications which were declared manifestly unfounded on this ground in December 2000 and in January 2001.
[5278/01]
Section 12 (4) of the Refugee Act, 1996, which contains the grounds upon which an application for a declaration as a refugee can be deemed to be manifestly unfounded, does not provide for an application to be deemed manifestly unfounded on the basis of prior transit through another European Union state. The Dublin Convention is, in fact, the appropriate mechanism for determining which Dublin Convention state is responsible for examining an application for asylum.
