Thomas Pringle (Donegal South West, Independent)
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342. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the progress made to date on the processing of subsidiary protection applications since the introduction of new regulations; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [46136/14]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, under the new Subsidiary Protection Regulations, responsibility for the investigation of subsidiary protection applications rests with the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner (ORAC). Following the commencement of the new Regulations in November 2013 persons with applications for subsidiary protection on hand with my Department under the previous subsidiary protection regime, were contacted by letter to explain the new arrangements for the processing of their applications, including the arrangements with regard to personal interviews.

A panel of legally qualified persons was established to assist the Commissioner with the investigation of these applications and training was provided in conjunction with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Significant progress has been made by ORAC in dealing with the backlog of applications. To date, 1,605 applicants have indicated that they wish to continue with their applications and a further 220 have applied for subsidiary protection since the introduction of the new regulations. ORAC had scheduled a total of 1,246 interviews up to 28 November, 2014 and has issued recommendations in 734 cases, involving 225 grants and 509 refusals of subsidiary protection.

The Refugee Appeals Tribunal has to date received a total of 276 appeals in respect of negative recommendations issued by the ORAC and has recently begun the processing of these cases following the completion of a training programme for Tribunal members.