Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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I can assure the Deputy that I am fully committed to ensuring that Ireland’s International Protection system is robust and rules based, and that our borders are protected.

I have significantly increased investment into the international protection system. I have implemented measures to improve efficiencies and throughput while also enhancing the application, interview, and decision-making process for applicants.

One of the priority areas of focus has been to recruit both civil servants and panel members to increase case processing. The IPO now has 548 staff, an increase of 158% over 2022.

I also introduced accelerated processing for:

• 15 safe countries of origin
• Applicants who have received protection elsewhere in Europe
• Citizens of the countries which provide the most number of applicants in the previous quarter (at the moment, Nigeria & Jordan).
• Accelerated processing has resulted in reductions of up to 70% in applications from countries covered by these arrangements.

Under the accelerated process, applicants receive a first decision within three months.

Faster, more efficient processing means that someone who has a right to protection gets it much more quickly, but it also means those without a right can be returned more quickly.

Staff numbers at the International Protection Appeals Tribunal have also been increasing year on year to meet the current challenges. In 2021, the agreed administrative staff of the Tribunal was 41. Currently there are 78 administrative staff.

The number of tribunal members is also increasing and there are currently 95 Part-Time Members, and I plan to increase the number of part time members further to 160. I am also increasing the number of Whole-Time Members from 3 to 12.

The Deputy may also wish to know that Budget 2025 has provided a €25m package for end-to-end investment in the immigration system including Service Delivery, International Protection Office, International Protection Appeals Tribunal and the Legal Aid Board.

These significant additional resources will be directed to streamline the end-to end international protection process, with approximately 400 further staff to be recruited for roles across this process. This will support reaching key targets, including the IPO making 25,000 decisions in 2025 compared to over 14,000 cases in 2024.

All aspects of the international protection modernisation programme will continue to be kept under review and improved on a continuous ongoing basis.

The table below details the staff count at the IPO since January 2024 to 7 October 2024.

Monthly	IPO Staff Count per Month
January	406
February	405
March	417
April	415
May	423
June	449
July	496
August	524
September	548
October*	548

The table below details the breakdown of IPAT staffing levels from January to 7 October 2024

-	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	June	July	Aug	Sept	Oct*
Admin Staff	59	59	62	63	65	67	71	72	78	78
Chairperson and Deputy Chairpersons	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Wholetime Members	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3	3
Legal Interns					1	1	1	1	2	2
Total	65	65	68	69	72	74	78	79	86	86

*to 7 October 2024

Please note that all data provided is correct at the time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.