Patrick Costello (Dublin South Central, Green Party)
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470. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide an update on the current timeframe for asylum applications to be processed; the number of asylum seekers waiting for a decision and length of time waiting for a decision; the number of asylum seekers who have appealed their application decision; the average length of time for an appeal; the steps being taken to speed up the process; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9481/23]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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Overall, my Department is working to minimise the timeframe for receiving a decision on an international protection application, giving status to those who are entitled to international protection to rebuild their lives here, while also ensuring faster decision making in respect of those who are deemed to be not entitled to international protection.

The Government has also committed additional funding of nearly €18m in 2023 that will also go towards increasing efficiency in processing applications, including by increasing staff numbers at the International Protection Office. Further reforms are being examined with a view to speeding up the processing of applications.

Notwithstanding the very large increase in the number of applications during 2022, the median processing time for all international protection cases (which includes decisions on permission to remain) processed to completion by the IPO in Quarter 4 of 2022 was 10 months. The median processing time for cases processed to completion for all of 2022 was 18 months. This represents a reduction of 8 monthsin processing time over the course of the year.

The median processing times for all of 2022 for all appeals determined was 10.2 months, a 24% decrease compared to the previous year. Median processing times for appeals completed in Quarter 4 2022 stand at 4.1 months. The Tribunal’s resource plan for 2023 provides for additional staff to account for increased international protection appeals this year.

The number of applications pending at the IPO at 31st January 2023 was 14,896, the majority of which were made in 2022. The table below sets out the figures requested by the Deputy with regard to applications on hand with the IPO.

Since the introduction of new efficiency measures in the IPO during 2022 the number of first instance recommendations and permission to remain decisions have increased by 44 % when compared with the same period pre-Covid in 2019. 92% of cases decided in 2022 were processed in 3 years or less and 62% of cases decided in 2022 were processed in 2 years or less.

The number of appeals on hand with the International Protection Appeals Tribunal as of 31st January 2023 was 806 appeals. There were a total of 839 appeals pending with the IPAT (International Protection Appeals Tribunal) as at 31st December 2022. The number of appeals received by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal during 2022 was 1180 appeals and a further 107 appeals were received in January 2023.

At the end of January 2023, 941 cases were pending in the IPO’s Ministerial Decisions Unit with a further 798 cases in the Permission to Remain Review (PTRR) Unit in the International Protection Office of my Department.