FINE GAEL has called on High Court judges to work a month longer than usual this year in order to deal with a backlog of judicial reviews by asylum seekers.
By taking the “patriotic” step of sitting through September, judges could help clear about 300 of the 350 asylum cases that are ready to proceed and save the State millions of euro, according to Denis Naughten, the party’s spokesman on immigration and integration.
His intervention comes amid debate on the Government’s decision, on constitutional grounds, not to impose the public service pension levy on members of the judiciary.
Mr Naughten said that since 2002, the State had spent €2.26 billion on asylum applications and accommodation, and although the numbers of asylum seekers coming to the Republic had fallen – from some 11,600 in 2002 to 3,850 last year – the cost of housing them had risen over the same period.
“Action must be taken to radically reduce this excessive expenditure,” he said. “In government, we will request High Court judges to sit longer in the vacation period to clear the backlog of asylum applications as a contribution to the current economic climate, thus reducing costs to the exchequer of the asylum process.
“If 15 of the 33 High Court judges were to work for the month of September, with an average case taking one full day, they would clear about 300 of the approximately 350 asylum cases ready to proceed.”
Mr Naughten suggested it was not unusual for an asylum application to drag on for eight years, at a cost of up to €1.4 million per application. Moreover, the arduous process had a “dire impact” on applicants themselves.
“I’m calling on the Minister for Justice to enter discussions with the President of the High Court with a view to them making a special arrangement to deal with judicial review cases over the long vacation this year, in the interest of all involved,” he said.
“We must not forget that justice delayed is justice denied for the applicant and the taxpayer and with some of these cases going back as far as 2006, when papers were instituted, surely something must be done.” Figures obtained by The Irish Times last May showed almost half of all applicants for refugee status living in “direct provision” housing had been in the asylum process for more than two years, while the total number of residents in the centres was some 30 per cent higher than at the same point in 2006.
According to the Department of Justice, 45 per cent of asylum applicants who were living in State accommodation had been there for at least 24 months, while a quarter of the total had been in the system for more than three years. Under “direct provision”, asylum seekers are given accommodation, meals and a weekly allowance of €19.10 but are precluded from paid work. As of the end of December last year, there were 6,250 people living in 52 centres around the country.
Officials from the department say the number of residents remains high because applicants can remain in State accommodation while pursuing judicial reviews or other avenues to remain in the country.