Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

There is a series of reviews on a number of headings across my Department. This is one area where we want this review to start — it has started — in order to ensure that we are getting value for money.

With regard to cost issues, we are not the authors of our own destiny. We must provide accommodation for those people who present to us, whether they do so at the start or at the end of a process, including during judicial reviews. The only way to deal with these issues as expeditiously as possible is to pass the new immigration Bill as quickly as possible, which will ultimately streamline the decision-making process. In the last few years, we have presided over a system whereby people can go to the court at every twist and turn. When I started out in law, it was an exception to take a judicial review. However, judicial reviews in the High Court on asylum cases make up about two thirds of all judicial reviews. Hopefully, the passage of the Bill will change this.

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