Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

We are already reducing the timeframes. When I was first elected, I remember visiting people in Mosney, which is in my constituency, where they were seven or eight years in the system for an average or ordinary application. While the timeframes have gone slightly up in the last few years, it is because our numbers have gone from 3,000 to 13,000. The average timeframe is under two years, although in most cases it is significantly under but it is under two years for the accelerated procedures, for which ten countries are now included. Today, the country with the highest number is under 90 days, so we are turning applications around.

The appeals are still slightly longer. We are hiring in as quick a way as we can and, in fact, the legislation I will bring forward to make changes to the High Court ruling will also make changes to those who can apply to be on the board for IPAS, making sure that we have access to as many qualified people as possible to be able to carry out that work as well. A lot of investment has happened in recent years to bring down those processing times, and I commend the team in the Department, the IPO office and right across the board. They are working with a significant increase in numbers and at the same time processing has, in many ways, gone down. What is also really important is the investment in technology. We are moving to having a significant number of and certain elements of the application system online. It will not remove anybody's rights but it just means it is on the system quicker, and we are able to process people much more quickly.