Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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628. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applicants that were successful for asylum or protection that submitted no identification from their country of origin in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. [32484/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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It is a central priority for me as Minister that our immigration laws are robust and enforced.

The establishment of a person’s identity and nationality is an important feature of our immigration process in general. When it comes to international protection applicants, each person is requested to provide personal documentation to the International Protection Office at the time of application, to attest to their identity, nationality and date and place of birth. Many applicants are in a position to provide documents but some are not.

Information provided by applicants concerning their identity are recorded on the applicant’s file but are not stored in a manner which allows detailed data to be extracted along the lines sought by the Deputy.

All applicants that enter the international protection process are fingerprinted and photographed. These fingerprints are checked against EURODAC, an EU database which stores the fingerprints of asylum applicants and those who have been found to cross borders illegally.

In addition to checks specifically on those applying for international protection, each and every person arriving at a port of entry in the state is subject to Schengen Information System (SIS) check. Under this system Ireland sends and receives SIS II information (termed ‘Alerts’) on persons and objects; for example persons wanted for criminal purposes, missing persons and objects which have been stolen or are wanted as evidence for a judicial purpose.

Finally, any person being considered for a grant of status (refugee status, subsidiary protection or permission to remain) will have a character and conduct check carried out in respect of them before any such status is conferred on them.

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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629. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the number of applicants currently waiting for their application to be processed for asylum or protection to date. [32487/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I am fully committed to ensuring that Ireland’s International Protection system is robust and rules based, and that our borders are protected.

The number of International Protection applications had been rising over the past number of years, reaching 18,500 in 2024. This year, we are beginning to see application numbers noticeably reduce. There were 45% less applications in the first five months of 2025 compared to the first five months of 2024.

I can assure the Deputy that it is a priority to have recommendations made on all international protection applications as soon as possible. This gives status to those who are entitled to international protection to rebuild their lives here, while also ensuring faster decision making in respect of those who do not meet the criteria.

There has been a significant increase in investment into the international protection system which, combined with digitisation and process reengineering, has facilitated a major increase in processing capacity.

In 2024 the International Protection Office (IPO) delivered over 14,000 first decisions compared to over 8,500 in 2023, while the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) closed around 3,100 appeals in 2024 compared to over 1,700 in 2023.

There are currently 33,853 pending International Protection applications at various points of the International Protection process.

IPO - International Protection Office.

IPAT - International Protection Appeals Tribunal.

PTRR - Permission to Remain Review.

MDU - Ministerial Decision Unit.

In 2024 99.5% of cases decided were processed in 3 years or less and 91.2% were processed in 2 years or less.

It should be noted that in the very small number of cases with unusually long processing times, these are typically attributable to circumstances outside of the control of the Department. The reasons for such extended delays in processing can include an applicant who may have an ongoing Judicial Review, certain applicants may be uncontactable or missing, or may be a child with a separate application where a parent has already received a decision but contact has not been maintained with the Department. In some cases applicants may not be co-operating with the application process.

Arrangements have been put in place to appropriately resolve such cases without further delay wherever feasible.

I intend to further invest in the immigration system to support 25,000 first-instance decisions made in the IPO this year. The IPAT also aims to increase the number of appeals completed over the course of 2025 with recruitment of Tribunal Members to increase its decision-making capacity currently taking place.

Additionally, 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 those from a country with a particularly high number of applications. I note that, since its introduction, the number of applicants from these groups has dropped.

Ireland has also opted in to the EU Asylum and Migration Pact. The Pact will significantly reform the approach to migration and asylum both in Ireland and across the EU by providing a fairer, more streamlined and, crucially, faster international protection system.