Alan Kelly (Tipperary, Labour)
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115. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of WTE staff, by grade, working in the International Protection Office as of 16 November 2023; and the corresponding figures as of 31 January 2022, in tabular form. [51325/23]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department is taking all necessary steps to manage the international protection process fairly and efficiently, as part of the broader Government response to this challenging issue.

In July this year, I published a report on the international protection modernisation programme for 2023 and 2024. As part of this programme, a number of measures have been implemented to improve efficiencies and throughput, in tandem with improvements to the application, interview and decision-making process.

The number of staff in the IPO has increased by 89% this year from 206 to 389. The extra staff assigned has seen a doubling of decisions in the IPO this year ensuring that those in need of protection receive that status without undue delay, while those that do not qualify are advised of this in good time.

In addition to IPO staff, case processing panel members are contracted by the Department to make recommendations on International Protection cases to the International Protection Office. The number of panel members to be recruited in the IPO and International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) will continue to be increased for the remainder of 2023 and into 2024.

These panel members will be supported by increased training and quality control support from the UNHCR. This expansion in human resources has already resulted in a substantial increase in the number of recommendations made.

The data the Deputy requested on staff working at the IPO is detailed in the table below.