Ken O'Flynn (Cork North-Central, Independent Ireland Party)
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242. To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice and Equality the Department’s estimate of the additional staffing, accommodation, ICT and operational resources required to meet the June 2026 deadlines under the EU Migration and Asylum Pact; and if he will provide the Department’s internal projections. [66591/25]

Jim O'Callaghan (Dublin Bay South, Fianna Fail)
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Ireland has opted in to the EU Asylum and Migration Pact which will come into effect in 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, and through the introduction of streamlined and faster processing times.

My Department continues to focus on preparing for the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum in advance of June 2026.

The General Scheme of a new International Protection Bill to give effect to the measures of the EU Migration and Asylum Pact was approved by Government on 29 April 2025. As the Deputy is aware, the Oireachtas Committee on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration recently conducted pre-legislative scrutiny of the General Scheme. The drafting of the Bill is well advanced. Enactment of the Bill and commencement of the Act is required by 11 June 2026.

In the short term, the processing costs to the State will increase as two parallel legislative systems will operate for some time. The exact amount will depend on applicant numbers and will be settled annually in the course of engagement on the Estimates process, as is currently the case, but these processing costs are far lower that the costs of accommodation and other supports. In advance of the Pact coming into effect there has already 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 the medium to long-term this investment will show a return in the form of decreasing annual costs because of the improved, faster processing it will enable, thereby reducing the time an applicant remains in the system, and reducing significant accommodation and other costs.

I would also note that there is a substantial EU budget to be distributed through the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) being made available to support implementation of the Pact across the EU. Ireland has received approximately €21.5m under the AMIF Thematic Facility Specific Action and a further approximately €8.9m AMIF funding will be made available on foot of a mid-term review.