The number of staff working on processing asylum appeals in Ireland fell by 8% since 2019, this despite a huge surge in applications and a backlog of hundreds of cases.
According to the Irish state broadcaster:
Figures obtained by RTÉ’s This Week programme show that there are currently 850 appeals cases pending before the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT).
However, there are just 46 staff working with the tribunal, a drop of 8% on the numbers in place in 2019 when there were far fewer people seeking international protection in Ireland.
The IPAT is responsible for hearing the cases of asylum seekers who want to appeal against a decision to refuse them asylum or refugee status.
The Department of Justice said there were 50 people working on the appeals tribunal in 2019, but this fell to 46 staff in 2023.
In the same period the number of asylum applications increased by 185% – from 4,781 in the year 2019, to 13,651 last year.
The figures provided indicate that it is likely the number of appeals will increase dramatically in the coming months.
Last year the tribunal completed a total of 1,558 appeals.
The Department of Justice said it had a panel of 42 part time members to hear cases, but these members have “varying degrees of availability to hear cases.”
The figures provided also show the number of staff assigned to repatriation fell from 58 in 2019 to 45 last year.
The repatriation office is responsible for the issuing of deportation orders.
However there was an increase in the numbers of people processing initial asylum applications, from 143 to 221 in the same period.
Separately, four out of every five applicants for asylum to Ireland since 2019 were granted permission to remain in the country.
