Press release
Minister McEntee publishes International Protection Modernisation Strategy
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The Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has today published the International Protection Modernisation Programme 2023-2024 which sets out a new a new suite of International protection reform measures.
Minister McEntee said:
“A fair, balanced and rules based approach to our International Protection systems means that those who need our help will get it while we also uphold the integrity of our immigration system.
“These principles are at the centre of our modernisation of the International Protection system, and guide the reforms we are continuing to implement.
“These include the accelerated procedure for those arriving from safe countries of origin, which I put in place last year.
“With a large increase in the number of International Protection applications in 2022, a new approach for the 2023-2024 period is set out in the report focusing on increasing outputs in the IPO. This is being delivered by significantly increased staffing and reforms to the application, interview and decision making process.
“A new target of 1,000 first instance decisions per month by spring 2024 will be adopted, a significant rise over 200 decisions per month made in 2021.”
The Minister further stated that:
“While this goal is ambitious, and is well in excess of the target of 290 per month set out in the Catherine Day report, significant progress towards this objective is already being made with 750 first instance decisions per month being reached in June this year."
The new change programme will be overseen by an International Protection Modernisation Programme Board, chaired by the Deputy Secretary at the Department of Justice with responsibility for Civil Justice.
The department has allocated a budget of €17.7 million to this work, over €10 million of which will support the recruitment of new staff. Staff numbers have already increased by 66% since December 2022, from 206 to 344 staff assigned. The IPO intends to further increase resources to 430 staff by the end of the year.
These resources will be supported by increased training and quality control support from the UNHCR.
Achieving these key results is dependent upon both an ambitious change programme within the International Protection Office, as well as a set of corporate enablers required to implement such a change programme. In that regard, the International Protection Modernisation Programme 2023/2024 is continuing to set targets and actions to deliver increased outputs.
Minister McEntee this week updated Cabinet on the modernisation programme and also on the accelerated procedure for applicants from safe countries of origin.
Last November, new accelerated procedures for those who arrive in Ireland from safe countries seeking International Protection were introduced.
The changes have ensured that a first instance decision is made within three months in such cases, a significant reduction from a norm of 17 to 24 months last year. The numbers arriving from these countries has significantly decreased.
Since last November, the numbers arriving from these countries have decreased from 210 applications in November to 64 in May this year – a drop of almost 70 per cent.
International Protection Modernisation Programme 2023-2024
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The Report published today sets out progress made on the Department of Justice actions in the Report of the Advisory Group on the Provision of Support including Accommodation to Persons in the International Protection Process – the ‘Catherine Day’ report.
The Advisory Group report was a complete review of the entire International Protection process, from the day a person first applies for protection in Ireland until their case is finally decided.
The report contained 70 recommendations, with 48 related to the Department of Justice.
37% of the actions are now complete, with a further 33% on target at present.
Some of the key achievements to date include:
- the landmark Regularisation of Long Term Undocumented Migrants Scheme
- delivered on the recommendation to provide “A one-off case-processing approach to reduce the current backlog of cases"
- the waiting period for labour market access for international protection applicants has been reduced to 6 months and its validity extended to 12 months, with effect from 9 February 2021
- it is now open to both international protection applicants and refugees to open a bank account. The Banking and Payments Federation of Ireland has issued a Guide to Opening Bank Accounts in Ireland for persons seeking asylum or persons granted protection status under the International Protection Act. Temporary Residence Certificates and UN Convention Travel Documents are now accepted as ID documents by the main retail banks in the State for the purposes of opening an account
- barriers for International Protection applicants applying for driving licences have been removed. This was primarily a matter for the Department of Transport who committed to progressing a provision to recognise Temporary Residence Cards, among their list of documentation to validate applicants’ residency and identification. Applicants can now apply for a driving licence
- and the necessary legislative provisions to enable this have been enacted by that department
Since last November a number of measures have been implemented to improve efficiencies and throughput, in tandem with reforms to the application, interview and decision making process, and these are having a significant impact on processing times.
In November 2022, the IPO introduced a new procedure to complete a first-instance decision in all applications from nationals of designated safe countries of origin within three months, compared to previous average processing times of 17-24 months for this cohort.
The median processing time for all cases processed to completion in the first three months of 2023 stands at 10 months, down from a norm of 22-26 months earlier in the year.
The IPO is currently processing 15,568 cases. The vast majority of these applications were received in 2022. Since the introduction of new efficiency measures, the number of first instance decisions has increased by 182% when compared with the same period pre-COVID in 2019.
92% of cases decided in 2022 were processed in three years or less and 62% of cases decided in 2022 were processed in two years or less. Currently fewer than 5% of people are waiting over two years for a decision, typically for reasons not in the IPO’s control.
The International Protection Appeals Tribunal’s operational capacity is currently being significantly expanded to meet their increased caseload. Additional resources are being deployed through increasing the number of Tribunal members as well as further recruitment of administrative staff. This is proceeding on a phased basis throughout 2023 and into 2024.