Dr. Fergal Lynch:

I thank the Senator for his question. It is good to see him again and I thank him for his kind words. On the White Paper and the processing of applications, we have been linking in very closely with our colleagues in the Department of Justice, which has been doing a good deal of work in this area. It has recently published an end-to-end review of the whole processing approach and it is a useful document in terms of setting up where it will go next. It has a number of approaches planned as a result of that.

It is investing in a new IT system and in online applications. The purpose of that is to improve and speed up and streamline the processing of applications. It plans to train more staff to be decision-makers, to be able to conduct reviews and to carry out reports and to complete reports. As I mentioned, it is streamlining its application process to try to expedite applications. It has been hugely conscious, as have we, of the unfortunate backlogs that have built up, particularly over Covid, but indeed before that. It is very concerned to make sure that we can develop a system that gives people responses within reasonable periods of time. Its objective is to have a first decision, a decision of first instance, within six months, and a final decision within the subsequent six months. I could not say, and the Department of Justice would not say, that is achieved at the moment because it is not. There is a good deal of work required to do that.

We are equally concerned to make sure that happens because our planning for the new system is based on a system in which there would not be this backlog. Both Dr. Catherine Day's report and the White Paper would have acknowledged that you cannot realistically or easily implement the new system if you have not dealt with the backlogs.

The Department of Justice has committed to a further review of its own processes and the progress made by no later than October next, to see if any additional processes or measure are required. There is a good deal of work being done on that and we are liaising closely with it on that work.