Matt Carthy (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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676. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the length of time it takes to process international protection applications, by country of origin including the designation of that country, that is, prioritised country, a safe country, country subject to accelerated procedures and so on; the length of time by country and designation it takes to process appeals to refusals to remain in the State, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7799/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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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.

In recent years there has been a significant increase in investment into the international protection system. This has allowed for a major increase in processing capacity and in 2024 the International Protection Office (IPO) delivered 14,156 first-decisions which was a 60% increase on the 8,873 first-decisions made in 2023. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) closed 3,098 appeals, an 82% increase on the 1,701 appeals completed in 2023.

Increased staff levels, more investment in technology and infrastructure, and the increased use of Panel Members in the IPO and Tribunal Members in IPAT has allowed for a major increase in processing capacity.

It is my intention to continue ramping up investment enabling more staff to be recruited. This will support reaching key targets, including making 25,000 decisions in the IPO in 2025 and increasing the number of appeals processed by IPAT.

Accelerated processing was introduced in November 2022 and it now applies to those from designated safe countries of origin, applicants who have received protection elsewhere in Europe and citizens of countries from which there are the largest number of applicants.

The below table details the average processing time in the IPO for an International Protection Application under the accelerated procedure and normal procedure.

The below table details the average processing time in the IPAT for an appeal under accelerated procedure and all other appeals.

The International Protection Appeals Tribunal Median Processing times (in Months)