Éamon Ó Cuív demands clearer tracking of asylum applications

Minister, the question is the number of current applications at hand for international protection and the length of time and average that it is taking to process the application and the steps being taken to reduce this time of processing. I agree for raising this very important matter around the number of current applications at hand for international protection and the time of average it is taken to process applications and the steps being taken to reduce them. My Department is taking all necessary steps to manage the international protection process fairly and efficiently as part of the broader Government response to this challenging issue. The number of international protection applications last year was 13,651, a significant increase in recent years. This represents a 186% increase on the number received in 2019, the last year in which application numbers were not impacted by COVID-19. Last week, Minister McIntyre published a report on the International Protection Modernisation Programme of 2023-2024. The report set out a suite of reform measures and it signals a goal to reach 1,000 decisions on international protection applications per month by early next year. As part of this programme, a number of measures have been implemented to improve efficiencies and throughput in tandem reforms through the application, interview and decision-making process. We have already increased the number of applications processed from 2,484 and 21 to 4,899 and 22, an increase of 97%. These reforms are having a significant impact and the median processing time for the first instance decision in Q1 of 2023 was 10 months, a reduction from 18 months over the course of 2022. The median process times for appeals in Q1 of 2023 was just over 5 months, down from 15 months at the beginning of 2022. As part of this programme, an accelerated procedure for international protection applicants from safe countries of origin was also introduced. Applicants from safe countries of origin now receive a first instance decision in less than three months, which is a significant reduction from a norm of 22 to 26 months early last year. These reforms are being supported with significantly increased resources and approximately 19 million euros was allocated to Budget 23 to the IPO and International Protection Appeals Tribunal to a scale-up processing. This will be supported by investment in human resources, infrastructure, technology and process engineering. As part of the marginalisation programme, I have put in place these resources and the impact they are having is being closely monitored and will be adjusted and refined as necessary. Minister, you had an awful lot of information there. But the one thing I'm still not clear on, as you said, 13,661, I think was the figure you gave, applications came in last year. You didn't tell me at this moment of time exactly how many applications does the Department have alive on hand. I think that's a very key thing because some could still be there from the previous year or some of last year's could be dealt with. So what I'm just looking for is how many applications are on hand. The second thing that I think most of us who deal with constituents who come in with queries about not electoralisation but international protection is, you ask questions of Inish. And to say that the answers are bland, is to put it mildly, there's no information at all as to how the application is progressing. What time scale, you give me more information than we ever get out of Inish. What time scale can that individual expect it will take to deal with their application? Can you also tell me whether the applications are dealt with chronologically or how are they selected? Because I think all of this information, the more information you get, the less number of queries you're going to get, and the more time you'll have for actually processing applications. Thank you, Deputy, again, for his question. I don't have the figure he seeks to hand, but I will get it for the Deputy, and I'll undertake to get that for him. In relation to the information, I think part of the challenge is the sheer volume of requests that are coming in. However, the Department of Minister McEntee has undertaken to reach out to the Deputies to see the particular difficulties the Deputies have in general in dealing with international protection applications and how we can improve that system for the Deputies in particular to get the information they need. I agree it can be a challenge, and then often the Deputies are left to coming to myself or Minister McEntee to try and get the particular information. And I think the more we can stream that in that information, the better. Thank you. Minister, I had a little bit of experience running in the processing plant at one stage, and one thing you'll learn is you can always get a process that's better. And one thing I can't understand is there must be a process and steps by which these files are dealt with. And presumably with computer systems and so on, each step could be recorded and then the person, a bit like the passport office do, could be given an accurate guess as to where it is, how many steps are in the process, is it at step three, step four or whatever, and when will the decision be given. I always think the more information you give people, because there have been some there for a long, long time, and you just get absolutely bland answers, and you get no information. It's frustrating for the constituent. It's very frustrating for our officers, who seem to be, you know, talking to a black hole, if we put down parliamentary questions, we say go to Inish, but if we go to Inish, to be quite honest, I could nearly write the answers myself, because they're so bland, just keep copying and pasting them and not bother even checking with you. I'm not trying to be too hard, but, you know, if you've got a process expert in, they tell you how to connect it to the computer, so that you can give the information back. I thank the Deputy, I suppose, if someone would have a challenge, many of these applications could be very, very complex, and people often get, come to Ireland, looking for help coming from very traumatic situations, and often have to feed their situation, often with no notice, and very, you know, can be quite challenging. In terms of processing those, it's not a simple case of moving along ABC on a processing plant, but these situations can be very complex, they can get caught at a particular moment in time when you're trying to get particular information or process them, and when you're given an answer, sometimes just the answer can be quite bland, but to actually give a detailed answer might require quite a complex answer that can take a considerable amount of time as well. So we'll endeavour to get a situation where we can get, I suppose, more straightforward answers for the deputies in terms of that, but I think sometimes there has to be an understanding, too, that many of these applications are exceptionally complex cases. They do require a complex thought process and application to the law and ensuring that the law is applied correctly to these applicants who are often in a very difficult situation. I think it's just here. Very difficult situation. Great, sir. Thank you. Thank you, thank you. I appreciate you talking about it.