Chronic backlogs in asylum system may encourage people to apply, officials said in letter

Ken Foxe

Chronic backlogs in dealing with applications for international protection were so long that it could encourage people to claim asylum in Ireland because the process was known to be so slow.

A Department of Justice request for a near doubling of contingency funding for dealing with applications said extra investment was needed at every stage of the asylum process as the system could not cope.

In a pre-budget letter to the Department of Public Expenditure, the department said during 2024 just 1,200 decisions were being made each month while 1,800 new applications were being made.

It said: “As you are aware, the anticipated number of people seeking international protection is set to exceed 20,000 this year, and there is no basis to imagine this figure will abate over the coming years.”

The letter said that “the perception of lengthy processing times” could lead to an increase in asylum claims as applicants became aware the system was bogged down.

It said under the EU Migration Pact that Ireland would eventually have to make international protection decisions within six months.

“In order to achieve this, IPO [International Protection Office] need to increase monthly decisions to 2,800 by end 2025 (currently 1,200 per month),” the letter explained.

“IPAT [International Protection Appeals Tribunal] need to deliver 1,500 determinations by the same time (currently 200 per month).”

In the submission, Department of Justice officials said application levels were clearly “outrunning” the processing capacity.

It said that “caseloads on hand are increasing significantly” and that a failure to scale up would only make things worse.

The letter added: “All these costs must be seen in the context of the exponentially growing cost of providing accommodation and other services to … applicants.”

It said there was a need to “dramatically increase” processing capacity and that this had been discussed at Government and Cabinet Committee meetings.

The letter said: “Investing now to deliver rapid decision making in line with the [Migration] Pact will ultimately deliver savings for the Exchequer.”

It said it would lead to applicants spending less time in State accommodation and in receipt of State payments.

The submission also said accelerated processing for certain countries – from which there was a very high number of applications – was already having an impact.

It explained that this had reduced by up to 70 percent the number of applications being received by citizens of those nations in some cases.

The letter said the allocation for 2024 had been around €35 million and that they were seeking an extra €25 million and that the “importance attached” to it had already been discussed in high-level meetings.

The documents, which date from late last summer, were only released following an appeal to the Information Commissioner under Freedom of Information laws.