Pa Daly (Kerry, Sinn Fein)
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250. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Question No. 377 of 8 October 2024, how many of the 400 additional staff to be recruited in roles across the process will be for the International Protection Office. [42122/24]

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 instance 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.

As the Deputy will be aware, Budget 2025 has provided an additional €25m package to continue the expansion of capacity in the international protection and immigration system. This further investment will enable approximately 400 further staff to be recruited for roles across the end-to-end process, including in the International Protection Office and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, and in various functions within Immigration Service Delivery closely associated with the international protection process. The exact deployment of the additional staffing is the subject of detailed planning at present and will be managed in an agile fashion to ensure the overall efficiency of the end-to-end process.