Donnchadh Ó Laoghaire (Cork South Central, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

I have many questions to ask but will try to be as brief as possible. It is argued that the processes are now in place to deal with the backlog and that it may be possible next year to bring it down to six months. In my experience, current delays are still lengthy. I understand from the Immigrant Council of Ireland that a response to a recent parliamentary question stated that in some instances there is a delay of 19 months until first correspondence. There are still significant backlogs to first interview. The question is whether the resourcing is adequate.

GRETA, the Council of Europe organisation, and the US State Department have identified issues whereby international protection processes sometimes mitigate against victims of trafficking being properly identified as such. That criticism was made in respect of this State by GRETA. I want to understand the rationale for that. I appreciate that there has to be some level of evaluation when people are applying for international protection but it is important that we have a clear sense of the numbers of those who are being trafficked internationally.

I understand there was a significant recent decision by the European Court of Justice in the case of A and S, which concerned aged out minors and family reunification. It was found that where the application had been made prior to the minor ageing out, it could still be considered valid. Will INIS be considering an update or further guidance on re-evaluating international protection legislation off the back of that decision?