Written answers
Thursday, 10 October 2024
Department of Justice and Equality
International Protection
Gary Gannon (Dublin Central, Social Democrats)
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228. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the breakdown of the number of decisions made by the IPO in 2021, 2022, 2023 and to date in 2024; the number of those that received refugee status, subsidiary protection and permission to remain; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [40802/24]
Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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My Department has significantly increased investment into the international protection system. Measures have been implemented 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.In addition, there are currently 208 Panel Members contracted by the IPO, an increase of 124% over 2022 figures.
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 first instance decisions in 2025 compared to an expected 14,000 decisions in 2024.
I introduced accelerated processing in November 2022 and it now applies to the following cohorts:
- 15 safe countries of origin - Albania, Algeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Botswana, Brazil, Egypt, Georgia, India, Kosovo, Malawi, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Morocco, Serbia and South Africa.
- Applicants who have received protection elsewhere in Europe.
- Citizens of those countries which provide the most number of applicants in the previous quarter (currently Nigeria & Jordan).
Since the introduction of accelerated processing for citizens from the country with the highest number of applicants (Nigeria), applications from that country have dropped by 55%.
Overall, accelerated processing has resulted in reductions of up to 70% in applications from countries covered by these arrangements.
The table below details the number of first instance international protection decisions made since 2021 to 7 October 2024.
First Instance Decisions | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024* |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Refugee Status (RS) Grant | 859 | 1,390 | 2,469 | 2,592 |
| Subsidiary Protection (SP) Grant | 74 | 69 | 237 | 247 |
| Permission to Remain (PTR) Grant | 588 | 2078 | 530 | 233 |
| Refused (RS,SP and PTR) | 788 | 866 | 5,144 | 6,379 |
| Withdrawals | 164 | 491 | 360 | 356 |
| Deemed Inadmissible | <=5 | 70 | 150 | 427 |
| Total | 2,475 | 4,964 | 8,890 | 10,234 |
*Up to 7th October 2024. Please note figures are correct at time of issue, however all statistics may be subject to data cleansing .
All applicants have recourse to the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) and the Courts for review of IPO decisions, before a final determination issues from the Minister.
The Deputy may also wish to know that the Department’s website provides a detailed overview of the International Protection process in Ireland as well as monthly statistics and metrics on the processing of international protection applications.
This can be accessed at:
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