Micheál Martin (Cork South Central, Fianna Fail)
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137. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of officials in his Department that are involved with co-ordinating Ireland's response to immigration cases from non-EU countries that arrive illegally. [1718/19]

Charles Flanagan (Laois, Fine Gael)
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As part of the wider functions of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department, staff members from a variety of INIS areas may be required to deal with issues relating to migrants residing in the State without an immigration permission.

Irregular migration touches upon the work of several different areas of INIS, as this requires policy consideration as well as the management of individual cases. Such cases, as with all categories of INIS customers, are dealt with on a case-by-case basis depending on how the person has fallen out of permission, and whether they are seeking regularisation of their status.

A recent example of cooperation across INIS on irregular migration is the launch of a recent scheme that allows certain non-EEA nationals, who came to Ireland to study between January 2005 and December 2010 and have subsequently fallen out of immigration permission, to apply for permission to remain in the State. This scheme was devised by INIS Policy Unit, and it is being operationalised by Residence Division, with statistical and technological support from INIS Corporate Affairs Division.

In total, INIS staffing amounted to 821 full-time equivalent staff at the end of 2018. Due to the variety of INIS areas which may be involved in policy and individual cases relating to irregular migration, it is not possible to provide a breakdown of the number of staff within INIS who may be involved in such work.