Jim O'Keeffe (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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Question 482: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of members of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal; the remuneration in respect of each; the average number of cases dealt with by each in any given year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18406/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy insofar as the current Members of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal are concerned and the remuneration paid to each of them, is set out in Table 1.

As you are aware, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal is a statutory independent body established under the Refugee Act, 1996 in order to deal with appeals against negative recommendations in respect of applications for refugee status issued by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). The Tribunal has been in operation since November 2000 and comprised a full time Chairperson and 29 part time Members at present. Members of the Tribunal are appointed for a renewable term of three years. The Tribunal has undertaken a significant job of work since its establishment having completed some 27,000 appeals up to the end of 2006.

In line with the general downward trend in asylum applications from, for example, 11,634 in 2002 to 4,314 in 2006, the cost of the operation of the Tribunal can also be expected to continue to fall. This will allow the continued redeployment of resources from the asylum process to support the capacity of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) to enhance service provision in the area of immigration (visas, citizenship etc.) as well as increasing the number of persons, found not to have a protection need, being returned to their country of origin.

In relation to the additional information requested by the Deputy regarding individual Members, I am advised by the Chairperson of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal that as his organisation is a statutory body, independent in the performance of its functions under the provisions of the Refugee Act, 1996, it would be inappropriate for him to provide the requested information.