I am aware of the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in B.A.C. v Greece referred to by the Deputy. The judgment refers to a case in which the Greek authorities failed to finally determine an asylum application which had been lodged initially by the applicant in January 2002.
With regard to the asylum processing system in place in this jurisdiction, the Deputy will be aware that the International Protection Act was signed into law by the President late last year. The Act provides for the introduction of a single application procedure for protection applications. Under the single procedure, an applicant will make only one application, and will have all grounds for seeking international protection and to be permitted to remain in the State examined and determined in one process. The single procedure will replace the current multi-layered and sequential protection application system, and this reform is designed to significantly simplify and streamline existing arrangements and allow us to grant international protection in a significantly shorter timeframe to those who are entitled to it while identifying, at a much earlier stage, persons who have no entitlement to stay in the State and who can safely return to their country of origin. All preparations are currently being made by my Department for the commencement of the Act.
Under the new legislation, a dedicated unit of my Department, to be known as the 'International Protection Office' will be the determining authority at first instance for applications for international protection, replacing the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). The case workers making decisions under the new structure are specialists in the processing of protection cases and trained to UNCHR standards.
The existing Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT) will be replaced by a newly constituted and independent appeals body to be known as the International Protection Appeals Tribunal. The newly configured and resourced Tribunal is designed to lead to the more efficient conduct of its business and greater consistency in its appeals decisions.
The transitional provisions in the Act set out how protection applications which are pending in the existing system on the commencement date will be dealt with. In order to achieve a smooth transition from the existing system to the single applications procedure, additional resources are being deployed to the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS), ORAC and RAT to assist with the implementation of the Act, including the tackling of existing caseloads both prior and subsequent to the commencement of the Act.
