Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 1 July 2014
405. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the target processing times for applications for asylum; the number of staff tasked with processing applications and the performance against those target processing times. [28107/14]
Amharc ar fhreagra407. Deputy Róisín Shortall asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the plan in place to expedite the processing of applications for asylum in view of the clear negative impact of long-term stays on residents in direct provision centres. [28110/14]
Amharc ar fhreagraI propose to take Questions Nos. 405 and 407 together.
The Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC) is the statutory independent body charged with processing asylum applications at first instance. I am informed by the Commissioner that, in general, the target time for processing asylum applications is 9 to 10 weeks.
The Refugee Applications Commissioner is statutory independent in the exercise of his functions. The Commissioner has advised that it is the policy of the office to ensure that applications for refugee status are processed as speedily as possible in the context of the available staffing resources and other priorities within the Office. Accordingly, the number of staff available for processing can vary and is augmented from time to time by staff from other units as resource redeployment permits. There is also a network of support staff who carry out a variety of application processing related functions such as taking applications for asylum, scheduling interviews, arranging interpretation and translation, issuing recommendations, dealing with Judicial Reviews, processing of Dublin Regulation cases and so forth. These staff also perform similar functions for other areas of the work in ORAC, including Subsidiary Protection, and accordingly, it is not possible to separate out the time spent on asylum cases exclusively. The overall resources of the office are kept under review taking into account the demand led nature of the work of the Office.
The median processing time for asylum applications in 2014 (to end April) is 12.1 weeks. Various strategies are being advanced to manage processing times in ORAC including the scheduling of some Saturday interviews.
The median processing time to a final decision by the Minister on an asylum application in 2013 to include the appeals process in the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT) was 36 weeks. Some cases can take significantly longer to complete due to, for example, delays arising from medical issues or because of judicial review proceedings. All asylum applications and appeals are processed in accordance with the Refugee Act 1996 and other relevant statutory provisions. High quality and fair decision-making in all cases continues to be a key priority at all stages of the asylum process.
Persons who are refused refugee status are notified of their entitlement to apply for subsidiary protection. This is separate to the asylum or refugee status determination process. This is invariably followed by the so-called leave to remain process. Each of these processes which determine whether an applicant can remain in the State are hugely complex and subject to oversight by the courts and have to be examined in accordance with a large body of Irish and international law. There are no shortcuts as the outcomes can lead to the most fundamental life-changing event for the applicants.
Measures have recently been taken with a view to delivering improvements in the processing of protection applications. The Deputy may be aware that the European Union (Subsidiary Protection) Regulations 2013 (S.I. No. 426 of 2013) were signed into law by my predecessor last November. Under the new Regulations, responsibility for the processing of applications for subsidiary protection was transferred from my Department to the ORAC with appeals to be dealt with by the RAT. Both of these bodies are independent in the exercise of their statutory functions and they have substantial experience in the area of asylum investigations and appeals, respectively. Additional resources have been allocated to the establishment and operation of the new arrangements for the processing of these cases which include the engagement of a panel of legally qualified persons to process cases, personal interviews for each applicant at the first instance and the opportunity for an applicant to appeal a negative recommendation of the ORAC to the RAT. The ORAC, in consultation with the UNHCR, have recently published on its website details of how it will prioritise the process of scheduling persons for interview taking into account, inter alia, dealing with applicants who are longest in the system first. The intention is to process as many of these cases to finality, to include consideration of any leave to remain aspects arising, in the shortest possible timeframe consistent with quality and fair assessment of all cases and of course, subject to the cooperation of applicants and no further legal impediments arising.
The Government remains committed to legislative reform in this area as provided for under the Programme for Government and under the Government Legislation Programme. My immediate priority is that the factors which lead to delays in the processing of cases are dealt with. In this regard, legislative reform aimed at establishing a single application procedure for the investigation of all grounds for protection is a key priority for this Government. Such reform would substantially simplify and streamline the existing arrangements by removing the current multi-layered and sequential processes and provide applicants with a final decision on their application in a more straightforward and timely fashion. In consultation with my officials, I am reviewing the work done to date in respect of the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill and will then decide on how best to progress the implementation of the Government's priorities, in particular to expedite those relating to the establishment of a single application procedure.
