Dáil Éireann Debate, Thursday - 22 January 2026
445. Deputy Paul Murphy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of family reunification applications that were granted in 2025, broken down by whether the sponsor was, a person with refugee status or a person eligible for subsidiary protection; and the average number of family members granted permission, per successful family reunification application in each category. [5600/26]
View answer446. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the proportion of family reunification grants made under the International Protection Act 2015 in 2025 where the sponsor was a minor; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5607/26]
View answer447. Deputy Marie Sherlock asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of family reunification applications that were granted in 2025; to provide a breakdown of those grants according to whether the sponsor was a person with refugee status or a person eligible for subsidiary protection; and the average number of family members granted permission per successful family reunification application in each category. [5829/26]
View answer448. Deputy Sinéad Gibney asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of family reunification applications that were granted in 2025; the breakdown of those grants according to whether the sponsor was a person with refugee status or a person eligible for subsidiary protection; and the average number of family members granted permission per successful family reunification application in each category, in tabular form. [5114/26]
View answer467. Deputy Gary Gannon asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of family reunification applications that were granted in 2025; to provide a breakdown of those grants according to whether the sponsor is a person with refugee status or a person eligible for subsidiary protection; and the average number of family members granted permission per successful family reunification application in each category. [5176/26]
View answer472. Deputy Roderic O'Gorman asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of persons who arrived in the State through refugee family reunification in each of the years 2023, 2024 and 2025; the breakdown of persons, by age and by eligibility category, that is, spouses, minor children, parents of minor children, and siblings of minor children for each year. [5222/26]
View answer479. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, by gender who were given to right to bring their spouse to Ireland in each of the past ten years, in tabular form; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5337/26]
View answer480. Deputy Matt Carthy asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number granted refugee status or subsidiary protection, by gender who were given the right to bring their children to Ireland in each of the past ten years; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5338/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 445, 446, 447, 448, 467, 472, 479 and 480 together.
As the Deputy will be aware, last November Minister O'Callaghan obtained government approval to introduce new policies and legislative changes to strengthen Ireland’s migration and asylum system to ensure it is rules-based, efficient and more aligned with EU Member States. These new policies and legislative changes are designed to strengthen the systems integrity, enhance clarity for applicants, and ensure that migration pathways remain fair, transparent and sustainable.
International Protection Family Reunification (IP-FRU), as provided for in Section 56 of the International Protection Act 2015, allows people granted international Protection status to apply for certain family members to join them in the State. As it stands, an application for IP-FRU must be made by the sponsor within 12 months of them being granted an International Protection permission.
Section 56 of the IPA Act 2015 was commenced on 31 December 2016 and statistics are available from 2017. In the last 9 years there have been 3,748 family members granted an International Protection family reunification permission, an average of 2.5 per sponsor. Table 1 below gives a breakdown of the figures by year.
Table 1. IP-FRU grants by year
|
Year |
Granted Individuals |
|
2017 |
62 |
|
2018 |
211 |
|
2019 |
265 |
|
2020 |
196 |
|
2021 |
484 |
|
2022 |
475 |
|
2023 |
407 |
|
2024 |
979 |
|
2025 |
669 |
In any individual application, some family members can be granted whilst others may be refused. Therefore I have provided the number of individual family members issued a permission.
Table 2 below provides the breakdown of family relationship to the sponsor. Under the provisions of the Act, insofar as applications for children are concerned, the sponsor can only apply for their children who are under 18 and unmarried. If the sponsor is a minor at the time of their IP application they can apply for their parents, and their siblings who are under 18 and unmarried.
Table 2 : Family relationship to the sponsor
|
Relationship to Sponsor |
2025 |
2024 |
2023 |
2022 |
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
|
Brother |
23 |
63 |
19 |
25 |
39 |
12 |
31 |
21 |
0 |
|
Daughter |
205 |
271 |
111 |
142 |
120 |
53 |
51 |
54 |
16 |
|
Father |
<10 |
30 |
<10 |
<10 |
26 |
<10 |
17 |
<10 |
<10 |
|
Husband |
45 |
82 |
25 |
33 |
17 |
10 |
10 |
13 |
<10 |
|
Mother |
13 |
35 |
13 |
16 |
32 |
11 |
21 |
11 |
<10 |
|
Sister |
21 |
70 |
26 |
26 |
39 |
10 |
29 |
<10 |
0 |
|
Son |
247 |
248 |
135 |
152 |
137 |
52 |
72 |
52 |
18 |
|
Wife |
108 |
180 |
70 |
72 |
74 |
39 |
34 |
42 |
22 |
Table 3 below outlines the permission the sponsor holds, namely an international protection permission, a subsidiary protection permission, or a programme refugee under the Irish Refugee Protection Programme).
Table 3: Immigration permission held by sponsor
|
Sponsor |
2025 |
2024 |
2023 |
2022 |
2021 |
2020 |
2019 |
2018 |
2017 |
|
Refugee Status |
242 |
365 |
125 |
165 |
171 |
56 |
77 |
61 |
20 |
|
Subsidiary Protection |
14 |
14 |
<10 |
32 |
31 |
20 |
20 |
33 |
14 |
|
Programme Refugee |
<10 |
20 |
10 |
<10 |
<10 |
<10 |
<10 |
<10 |
<10 |
* Please note, all tables and figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing
In 2025 IP-FRU was granted to 71 family members where the Sponsor was a minor.
Statistics on the gender of the sponsor are not recorded. This would require the manual examination of thousands of cases. Such an examination would require a disproportionate amount of time to compile.
Earlier this month Minister O'Callaghan published the new International Protection Bill 2026, which will give effect to the Pact measures and will replace the International Protection Act 2015.
Work is underway with the Attorney General to developing provisions for inclusion in the Bill to give effect to the proposals, approved by Government on 26 November 2025, that adults who are beneficiaries of international protection will not be entitled to seek family reunification for a period of three years following their grant of international protection. They must also demonstrate that they are financially self-sufficient. This will be assessed by reference to appropriate income thresholds to be prescribed.
