Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the waiting times for asylum applications with a breakdown of the average waiting time for an unsuccessful application for each stage of the process from initial application to the issue of a deportation order; the number of people awaiting a decision under each stage of the process; the number of staff dealing with the application process; his plans to review this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22182/07]

Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 121: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the waiting times for leave to remain applications; the number of people awaiting a decision under this process; the number of staff dealing with the application process; his plans to review this situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22184/07]

Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 119 and 121 together.

The details requested by the Deputy in relation to the processing of asylum and leave to remain applications are set out below, as far as they are available, under the headings of the organisations involved.

It is not possible to provide a breakdown of average timescales for the processing of successful and unsuccessful applications.

Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner

Asylum applications are considered at first instance under the provisions of the Refugee Act 1996 (as amended) by the Office of Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). The determination process is comprehensive and includes an interview and the assessment of a claim having regard to both subjective and objective factors including the consideration of detailed country of origin information before a recommendation is made.

In terms of timescales at first instance for prioritised cases, an interview date is usually scheduled within 9-12 working days from the date of the initial application. These applications are normally finalised within a further 5 to 8 working days giving an average processing time of 17/20 working days from the date of application.

In the case of non-prioritised cases, an interview date is usually scheduled approximately 16 weeks from the date of the initial application. These applications are normally finalised within a further 4/5 weeks giving a total processing time of approximately 20/21 weeks from the date of application.

With regard to the number of asylum applications awaiting a recommendation in ORAC, there were 1,190 outstanding applications as at the 31st August 2007. Of these 1,190 outstanding applications, only 125 cases were on hands over 6 months.

The Refugee Applications Commissioner continues to keep the procedures for processing applications for refugee status in that Office under ongoing review with a view to limiting the amount of time applicants have to wait for a recommendation to be made.

Refugee Appeals Tribunal

The average length of time taken by the Tribunal to process and complete Substantive appeals received between 1st July 2006 and 30th June 2007 was approximately 17 weeks.

The average length of time taken by the Tribunal to process and complete Accelerated appeals (appeals on papers only) received between 1st July 2006 and 30th June 2007 was 9 weeks.

The average length of time taken by the Tribunal to process and complete Prioritised appeals received between 1st July 2006 and 30th June 2007 from five countries — Nigeria, Romania, Bulgaria, Croatia and South Africa — was 6 weeks.

While many appeals are completed in a shorter time span than above, many factors such as adjournments, postponements and judicial reviews, impede the Tribunal from meeting its objective in every individual case. High quality, consistent and fair decision making continues to be a priority in the Tribunal.

As at the 31st August 2007, there were 3,041 appeals outstanding in the Tribunal. Of these 3,041 outstanding appeals, 1,893 were on hands over six months. A large volume of the appeals outstanding more than 6 months in the Refugee Appeals Tribunal is due to the delay in processing appeals pending the granting of access to Tribunal Decisions following the Supreme Court judgement (in the Atanasov case) on the matter. Following the judgement the RAT set up a comprehensive data bank of previous decisions of the Tribunal, suitably redacted, which is readily available for access by legal representatives of applicants. This data bank, along with other measures being applied by RAT, will be of considerable assistance in clearing the current backlog of cases.

Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service - Repatriation area

An application for Leave to Remain in the State arises where a non-national is served with a notice of intent to deport under section 3(3)(a) of the Immigration Act, 1999. A person served with such a notice of intent to deport is, since the 10th October 2006, afforded four options, viz. to leave the State voluntarily; to consent to the making of a Deportation Order; to apply for Subsidiary Protection or to make representations in writing within 15 working days setting out reasons as to why a Deportation Order should not be made and why temporary Leave to Remain in the State be granted instead.

In determining whether to make a deportation order or grant temporary leave to remain in the State, I must have regard to the eleven factors set out in Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended, and Section 5 (Prohibition of Refoulement) of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended. Temporary leave to remain is considered in every case regardless of whether representations are made by, or on behalf of, the persons concerned. Each case is considered in the context of its own individual circumstances and merits; and statistics are not maintained as to the duration of the consideration process in respect of each application, as no two applications are the same.

Statistics are not maintained either in a way which distinguishes between those who have made an application for leave to remain and those who have not. The total number of applications awaiting a decision for temporary Leave to Remain is 11,068 of which 10,457 is the number of asylum cases which entered the Leave to Remain process with these cases being at different stages of processing. Moreover, it must be borne in mind that many of those who failed the asylum process, and who did not opt to return voluntarily or consent to deportation, nonetheless left the State before a decision to deport or grant leave to remain was made. It is reasonable to presume that many of those listed as awaiting a decision on Leave to Remain have in fact left the jurisdiction.

The total number of sanctioned staff posts in ORAC, RAT and the Repatriation area (which deals with a broad range of issues, one of which is Leave to Remain) of the Department is 464, with current staff vacancies in these areas being approximately 90.

As the Deputy will no doubt be aware, the Government in April 2007 published the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill 2007. The Bill sets out a legislative framework for the management of inward migration to Ireland and represents a comprehensive overhaul of the State's immigration and protection laws.

The Bill will integrate into the immigration code Ireland's processes for honouring our obligations under the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees and other international, including European Union, instruments designed to offer protection from persecution and other dangers. It also provides for a single protection procedure within which all grounds (protection or otherwise) on which a person may wish to remain in the State will be considered together at the same time. This contrasts with the present sequential processes for considering different aspects of the same basic question.

This new integrated process will bring the State into line with processes in other EU States and will result in the functions currently carried out by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner being subsumed into the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS). The current independent appeal process for asylum claimants will remain with the establishment of the Protection Review Tribunal which will replace the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. This new body will have an expanded remit to consider, in addition to appeals against decisions not to grant refugee status, appeals against decisions not to grant subsidiary protection as defined in the EU Qualification Directive.