Mr. Noel Waters:

Clearly, that will be a function with respect to the number of people who come through the process but the ultimate gain in this for everybody - for Ireland, for the taxpayer - is that people will be processed through the system far more quickly. Clearly, in cases where they do qualify, they could be processed and recognised as refugees, or they will now be known as protection applicants, within a matter of weeks. That will happen.

I will come to the issue of the people coming here from Syria, by invitation of the Government, and the relocation process. That will happen in a matter of weeks in many cases. In other cases, there is no reason why those applications will not be dealt with and out of the system in a matter of months. Our target around that is that we should be able to do that between six and nine months. That will mean that people will not continue to be housed for very lengthy periods in direct provision. The reason they are there in very many cases is due to the delays in the system because of the sequential nature of it, due to the multiple opportunities people have to apply before the courts.