Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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748. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of cases where the applicant seeking asylum was refused but are now under appeal; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61352/25]

Colm Burke (Cork North-Central, Fine Gael)
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749. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the total number of appeals by asylum seekers who appealed the decision not to grant them asylum; the number of these appeals where a decision was reached for each year ending 31 December 2023, 31 December 2024 and for six months to 30 June 2025; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [61353/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 748 and 749 together.

It is a priority for the Department 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 significant improvements arising from investment across the end-to-end international protection process in the last number of years, with additional staffing as well as increased financial and technical resources being made available to Immigration Service Delivery, International Protection Office, International Protection Appeals Tribunal and the Legal Aid Board. There has also been investment in ICT capital expenditure and process improvements.

There has been a significant increase in the number of staff at the International Protection Office (IPO) to decrease waiting times for decisions. In 2019 there were 143 IPO staff. In 2025 there are 620 staff, which is a 334% increase on 2019 staffing.

This is supporting reaching key targets and in 2024 the IPO delivered over 14,000 first decisions compared to over 8,500 in 2023. Already this year the office has produced over 17,400 decisions.

There has also been very significant additional resources assigned to the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) through its budget and staffing. This has been particularly evident in the past two years with the IPAT budget increasing by 95% since 2023 and administrative staff doubling in capacity.

The IPAT has also increased the number of appeals completed to date in 2025 by 66% over the full year figure for 2024 with ongoing recruitment of Tribunal Members to increase its decision-making capacity.

There are currently 17,100 International Protection Appeals on hand at the International Protection Appeals Tribunal.

The table below details the number of IPAT International Protection appeals received and decisions issued for the dates requested by the Deputy.