Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 210: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of persons who arrived and claimed or sought asylum in the State in each of the years 2002, 2003 and 2004; their respective countries of origin; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4446/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The information sought by the Deputy in respect of the number of applications for asylum by country of origin for the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 is set out in the following tables:

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 211: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the time it takes for his Department to determine an application for asylum or an application for refugee status; the time it is taking to determine appeals; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4447/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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As the Deputy is aware, applications for refugee status are determined by an independent process comprising the office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner, ORAC, and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, RAT, which make recommendations to the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform on whether such status should be granted. Two types of processing caseloads exist in the ORAC and the RAT, namely, applications which are prioritised on foot of a ministerial prioritisation direction made under section 12 of the Refugee Act 1996 and cases in respect of which such a direction does not exist.

With regard to processing timescales for prioritised asylum applications, on 24 January 2005 I announced new arrangements for the speedier processing of such applications which were implemented with effect from 25 January. The new arrangements apply in the main to nationals of Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and South Africa. In 2004, these applications comprised 47% of all applications. These new arrangements include the reduction of processing timescales both at the initial stage in ORAC from six weeks to around three weeks and for appeal determinations in RAT from an average of five weeks to three weeks.

For other cases, the typical processing time in the ORAC is in the region of six months. The average length of time taken to process and complete substantive appeals in the RAT is approximately 16 weeks and appeals which are determined on the basis of papers alone are completed in five to six weeks.

Work is ongoing in the ORAC and RAT with a view to further speeding up processing times for asylum applications. It should be noted, however, that the extent to which any period can be abridged is dictated in part by the necessity to allow an applicant a reasonable period in which to set out his or her claim in full. These safeguards are underpinned by the Refugee Act 1996. Also, a range of factors can add to the complexity of cases, notably where a case requires more than one interview or the applicant is unable to attend an interview or hearing for valid medical reasons.

Following significant additional investment in the asylum determination process over the past four years, considerable progress has been made in processing asylum applications in the timescales involved. This is evidenced, for example, by the fact that the number of cases more than six months old in the ORAC and the RAT stood at 1,057 on 31 January 2005, as compared to a figure of approximately 6,500 at the end of September 2001.

Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 212: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of applications for asylum and for refugee status which his Department received and determined in each of the years 2002, 2003 and 2004; the number of such applications at present in hand; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [4448/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The numbers of applications for asylum received and determinations made for each of the years 2002, 2003 and 2004 is as in the table.