Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 16 June 2026
680. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of asylum applications which have been fully approved from nationals of Nigeria or the Congo in each year from 2016 to date. [45517/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraMy Department takes all necessary steps to manage the international protection process efficiently and effectively, while ensuring the integrity of those processes is maintained at all times.
There has been a significant increase in investment into the international protection system over the last number of years which, combined with digitisation and process re-engineering, has facilitated a major increase in processing capacity and demonstrates a strong commitment to reducing cases on hand.
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. As of 31 May, IPAT has closed 3,932 appeals this year and is on track to significantly exceed the number of appeals closed in 2025.
To date in 2026 the median processing time for IPO first instance decisions is 12 months (accelerated cases are processed in 2 months, while standard cases are processed in 16 months).
The median processing time for International Protection appeals is 13.6 months. The median processing time under the accelerated procedure is 7.0 months and 16.4 months for all other appeals.
Please note my Department does not provide detailed statistics on international protection grant and refusal rates by nationality.
The following table shows the total number of international protection applications from Nigeria and the Congo from 2016 to 11 June 2026.
|
Nationality |
2016 |
2017 |
2018 |
2019 |
2020 |
2021 |
2022 |
2023 |
2024 |
2025 |
2026* |
|
Nigeria |
176 |
185 |
253 |
386 |
210 |
450 |
1,111 |
2,083 |
4,036 |
1,940 |
759 |
|
Democratic Republic of The Congo |
67 |
96 |
104 |
77 |
34 |
29 |
186 |
180 |
169 |
86 |
29 |
|
Republic of The Congo |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
5 |
9 |
5 |
*to 11 June 2026
Please note figures are correct at time of issue and may be subject to data cleansing.
