Aengus Ó Snodaigh (Dublin South Central, Sinn Fein)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the improvements he plans to make to the customer service department at the immigration section. [9875/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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The major reduction in the number of asylum applicants is now giving me an opportunity to refocus resources on areas of service provision for non-nationals which are under resourced at present.

Given the large number of staff involved and having regard to the reduction in the number of asylum applications being received in the State, I have engaged the services of PA Consulting Group in order, inter alia, to ensure that the staffing resources currently available within the asylum, immigration and citizenship areas of my Department are optimised and targeted in the most effective manner possible at core functional activities — one of which, in the immigration and citizenship areas, is an improvement in customer service. Some redeployment of staff from the asylum to the immigration and citizenship areas has already taken place.

Given the scale of rapid and unprecedented growth in the immigration area, it is not simply a matter of staffing. Information technology will play an important part in the implementation of a long-term sustainable solution. In this regard, preparatory work is being undertaken on a request for tender document which will lead in due course to a major enhancement of the information technology capacity of the immigration and citizenship areas of my Department.

In addition, the recently announced new Irish naturalisation and immigration service, INIS, by providing a one-stop-shop approach will improve customer services for legally resident migrants. It will do so specifically by providing: a single contact point or one-stop-shop for applications for entry to the State, combining the current work permit and visa application processes; a clearer system involving more streamlined processes; and improved sharing of information in linked systems should simplify decision making; improved service times as applications do not have to be submitted to a number of organisations; improved control and enforcement mechanisms.

The benefits of the new service should become clear from an early date. Within a year there should be a significantly improved service with a much clearer customer focus, revised organisational procedures and IT systems in place to deliver improved customer service and to strengthen enforcement mechanisms.