Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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241. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the current number of international protection appeals pending at the International Protection Appeals Tribunal; the average waiting time; and the number of appeals exceeding six months, nine months and twelve months. [66590/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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244. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if his Department has developed a capacity plan for the International Protection Appeals Tribunal to clear legacy appeals before June 2026; and if he will outline the projected monthly clearance rate required to meet that target. [66593/25]

Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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245. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality if the Department has carried out any stress-testing of the accelerated border-procedure timelines introduced on 1 July 2025; and if he will publish the results, including any operational risks identified. [66594/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 241, 244 and 245 together.

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

In common with the investment made in the IPO to reduce cases on hands, there is a similar strong commitment to resource the Tribunal through its budget and staffing. This has been particularly evident in the past two years with the Tribunal budget increasing by 95% since 2023 and administrative staff doubling in capacity. Recent competitions have also seen part time tribunal members increasing from 89 to 143 and whole-time members from 6 to 9 in 2024.

A recently announced Operational Plan between Ireland and the European Union Agency for Asylum is also seeing up to 30 EUAA personnel be deployed to support the Tribunal’s work. This work includes preparing appeal files, conducting research on country-of-origin information and international protection jurisprudence, and providing interpretation in difficult-to-source languages.

On foot of the investment being made, to date in 2025, the IPAT has increased the number of appeals completed by 78% over the full year figure for 2024.

The table below details the time pending for live appeals at the Tribunal as of 16th November 2025.

*Data correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.

The overall median processing times for appeals at 16 November 2025 is 12.6 Months.

My Department also continues to focus on preparing for the EU Migration and Asylum Pact in advance of June 2026. The Pact will provide a fair, sustainable and efficient asylum procedure. This will be achieved through convergence in asylum practices across the EU.

On 1 July, my Department introduced the first phase of a gradual transition to a new accelerated, end-to-end process for applicants entering the international protection system in Ireland. This new accelerated process mirrors elements of the future border procedure and screening required by the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum while still adhering to the existing International Protection Act 2015.

The new process is designed to enable testing of new border procedure timelines that will be required as part of the EU Pact requirements in June 2026. The border procedure allows 12 weeks to first and second-instance decisions and a further 12 weeks to return for those who receive negative decisions.

This first transition phase focused on accelerating the processing of applicants from three designated safe countries of origin: Georgia, India and Brazil. It also introduced elements of the future required screening process under the EU Pact.

During the initial three months of the transition, a total of 366 applicants were processed under these shorter timelines. While it is too soon to measure the six months total timeline permitted, the timeline of 12 weeks for first and second instance decision was achieved. This represents a significant shift from the current median processing times in the IPO and IPAT, and hence a significant reduction in costs for accommodation and other supports.

Phase two of the transition is currently underway, having launched on October 8, 2025 with the addition of the remaining 12 designated safe countries of origin. The impacts and learnings from expanding the transition will become clearer over the coming months.