Denis Naughten (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 145: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of judicial reviews taken against the Refugee Appeals Tribunal annually since its establishment; the number of successful judicial reviews; and the cost to the State for this annually since the establishment of the tribunal. [37633/08]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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The information requested by the Deputy in relation to the number of applications for leave to judicially review the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (RAT) since its establishment (4 October 2000) is set out in the following table:

In considering the number of applications for leave to judicially review the RAT since it was established in 2000, account should be taken of the high number of appeals received and decisions made by the RAT in the same period, i.e. 32,385 appeals received and 28,928 decisions issued. The number of judicial reviews taken against RAT equates to 6.9% of all RAT decisions.

In 986 of these judicial review cases the matter was settled out of court during the course of proceedings. In the majority of cases this was before leave to judicially review the tribunal was granted. All judicial reviews settled by the Refugee Appeals Tribunal are settled following consultation and counsel's advice from the Chief State Solicitor's Office. In so far as the balance of judicial review cases is concerned, the number of applicants successful before a court in this eight year period was 43. The legal costs paid out on behalf of the Tribunal arising from judicial reviews are set out in the following table: