Bernard Durkan (Kildare North, Fine Gael)
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394. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality to indicate notwithstanding replies to recent PQs, if the case of a person (details supplied) can be urgently reviewed; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [29061/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy may be aware, it is not my Department's practice to comment on whether an application for international protection has been made in the State. If a person is in the international protection process, there is a legal requirement under the International Protection Act 2015 to maintain full confidentiality at all times. Therefore the Department is unable to publish any information that would identify an international protection applicant.

If an application for international protection has been made in the State, the applicant or their designated legal advisor should contact the International Protection Office (IPO) or the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) directly, as appropriate. This will enable a full and comprehensive reply to be provided.

Both the International Protection Office (IPO) and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) are fully independent in deciding whether or not to grant international protection. Each application is examined individually on its own merits, in line with national and international asylum law.

I can assure the Deputy that my Department takes all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.

I am ramping up investment at every level of the international protection system, including in the International Protection Office (IPO). In recent years, the IPO has expanded its processing capacity, doubled its budget, and invested in process reform and digitisation.

One of the priority areas of focus has been to recruit both civil servants and panel members, to increase case processing. The International Protection Office now has 449 staff, an increase of over 100% since 2022.

This investment has led to the number of decisions issuing increasing threefold and is set to increase further this year. It has also led to a significant improvement in processing times, with all first-instance decisions reducing from 18 months in 2022 down to 13 months in 2023. The median processing time for appeals was 5.5 months in 2023 down from 13.5 months at the start of 2022.

Recent strategic policy and operational approaches to speed up applications from safe countries and the country with the highest number of applications are also proving effective. Applications from designated safe countries have dropped by more than 50% since I introduced the accelerated procedure.

This year, asylum applications in Ireland have increased with 10,606 applications to 28th June, in comparison to 5,391 applications at the same point in 2023.

To ensure the gains made through the recent reform efforts are not compromised by a significant increase in applications I intend to further increase resourcing of the entire end-to-end international protection process. This will include further additional staffing, to maintain processing times, significantly increase removals and enhance border security.