Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 27 January 2026
729. Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of those people who have applied for international protection between 1 January 2019 and 31 December 2024 have received a final decision within a 12-month period; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5854/26]
View answer730. Deputy Paul Nicholas Gogarty asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of current outstanding applications and appeals for international protection; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [5855/26]
View answerI propose to take Questions Nos. 729 and 730 together.
There has been a significant increase in investment into the international protection system which, combined with digitisation and process reengineering, has facilitated a major increase in processing capacity.
In 2025, the International Protection Office (IPO) delivered over 20,200 first decisions compared to approximately 14,100 in 2024: a 44% increase. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) more than doubled the number of appeals closed from 3,100 in 2024 to nearly 6,300 in 2025.
In 2025 the median processing time for IPO first instance decisions was 14 months (Accelerated cases were processed in four months, while standard cases were processed in 16 months).
In 2025 the median processing time for appeals at the IPAT was 12.5 months.
Ireland has opted in to the EU Asylum and Migration Pact which will come into effect in June this year. The Pact will provide a fair, sustainable and efficient asylum procedure. This will be achieved through convergence in asylum practices across the EU, and through the introduction of streamlined and faster processing times.
The information requested by the Deputy on the number of international protection applications processed to a final decision within a 12-month period is not easily extracted. However to be helpful to the Deputy the table below shows median processing times for first instance decisions at the IPO from 2019 to 2024.
|
IPO First Instance Median Process Time in Months |
|
|
2019 |
17 |
|
2020 |
18 |
|
2021 |
23 |
|
2022 |
18 |
|
2023 |
13 |
|
2024 |
16 |
The table below show the median processing time at the IPAT from 2019 to 2024.
|
IPAT Median Process Time in Months |
|
|
2019 |
6 |
|
2020 |
9 |
|
2021 |
13.5 |
|
2022 |
10.2 |
|
2023 |
5.5 |
|
2024 |
10 |
The table below shows applications pending at different stage of the international protection process as of 31 January 2026.
|
International Protection Applications Pending |
|
|
IPO - International Protection Office |
14,998 |
|
IPAT - International Protection Appeals Tribunal |
18,793 |
|
PTRR - Permission to Remain Review |
838 |
|
MDU - Ministerial Decision Unit |
99 |
|
Total* |
34,728 |
*To COB 21 January 2026.
All data provided is correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.
