Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE)
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1079.To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 1522 of 23 July 2024, whilst she refers the matter to the IPO, she does indeed have jurisdiction over whether certain nationalities may have their applications processed faster, as it was announced that nationals from Jordan would have their applications processed quickly (details supplied); the reason this is not being done for Palestinian nationals who have fled genocide; and if she will make a statement on the matter.[34282/24]

Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I would like to assure the Deputy that it is a priority to ensure that international protection applications are processed efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times. As such, my Department has taken a significant number of measures to increase the capacity of the international protection system, including deploying very substantial additional resources. On foot of this, first instances determinations have increased from 2,482 in 2021 to 9,000 in 2023 and with the intention being to deliver over 14,000 decisions this year.

In addition, and accordance with sections 73 and 73A of the International Protection Act 2015, as amended, I have decided to prioritise and accelerate international protection cases where the applicant is from those countries where there has been a large number of applications. The decision to accelerate and prioritise particular cases, or groups of cases, in accordance with the provisions of the 2015 Act, will be kept under constant review.