Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The International Protection Act 2015 was commenced on 31 December 2016.

The new system will ensure that all aspects of a person's claim (Asylum, Subsidiary protection and Humanitarian Leave to Remain) are considered together rather than sequentially as heretofore. The following figures are provided in answer to the Deputy's question:

Regarding Direct Provision, as of 26 March, 2017, there were 4,519 persons resident in Reception and Integration Agency (RIA) accommodation centres.

The numbers of persons granted, and refused, asylum over each of the past ten years are as follows:

In addition, a number of these applicants may have been granted subsidiary protection or permission to remain subsequent to their initial application.

The median processing time for applicants granted asylum by the Ministerial Decisions Unit (MDU) for 2016 was 358 days (51 weeks).

The new single application procedure under the International Protection Act 2015, will, in time, significantly accelerate the protection determination process and by extension will reduce the length of time which applicants spend in State provided accommodation.

In relation to direct provision, the Deputy will be aware that a new analysis published in February reported on further significant progress in implementing the recommendations of the McMahon Report. 92% of the Report’s 173 recommendations are now implemented, partially implemented or are in progress, a significant increase on the 80% reported in the first audit of progress published last June. The process of implementation will continue across a number of Government Departments and Agencies. 121 of the recommendations are now implemented, with a further 38 recommendations partially implemented or in progress. When the Working Group examined the figures in 2015 there were 2,695 people in Direct Provision for 3 or more years. As of 1 January this year, this has been reduced by 55% to 1,204 people. The number of people in the system for 5 years or more has reduced by 58% from 1,946 to 811. Only 251 of these are awaiting a final decision on their protection application and the vast majority of these cannot be processed for various reasons such as pending judicial review proceedings. In effect, this means that almost all cases in the Direct Provision system for over five years that can be processed have been.