The body which determines refugee appeals has started tape recording its hearings in an attempt to resolve subsequent legal disputes over their contents.
The Refugee Appeals Tribunal will make transcripts of its hearings available in cases where unsuccessful refugee claimants go on to take High Court challenges against its decisions.
The tribunal, which expects to decide more than 5,500 refugee appeals this year, has started audio recording the hearings of one of its 30 members in a pilot scheme due to be extended to all proceedings in the coming months.
One in four people whose claims for refugee status are rejected at the first stage hearing have their claims upheld by the tribunal, which marks its second year in existence today.
A quarter of appeals heard by the tribunal this year were from Nigerian nationals, who account for a third of the total of some 9,500 asylum applicants in the year to date.
While one in four of all cases this year has succeeded on appeal, the success rate before the tribunal for Nigerians was 10 per cent, with 17 per cent for Romanians, 24 per cent for Kosovars, 25 per cent for Algerians, 26 per cent for Moldovans, 39 per cent for appellants from the Democratic Republic of Congo and 56 per cent for Angolans.
The overall success rate for people claiming refugee status in the State on the grounds that they are fleeing persecution stands at about 11 per cent.
The chairman of the tribunal, Mr P.J. Farrell, said he was satisfied with the quality of decision-making by the tribunal's members, all experienced barristers or solicitors who work part-time.
"I'm always trying to do more to make the determination process consistent and fair. That's a training issue and an exchange of knowledge issue," he added.
The tribunal's support staff numbers have increased from 50 to 130 in the past two years, and Mr Farrell said staff training is consistently prioritised.
Currently people whose appeals are successful are not told the reasons why they have been granted refugee status, entitling them to live and work in Ireland and eventually seek citizenship.
Mr Farrell said he hopes to begin before Christmas informing successful appellants of the reasons for positive decisions in their cases. This would require an amendment to regulations and Mr Farrell said he has had positive indications from the Department of Justice that these changes would be possible.
The tribunal's decisions are not published, although Mr Farrell said he hopes from early next year to begin publishing up to 20 "significant decisions" a year.
"I think we should publish selective decisions of jurisprudential importance so that lawyers advising people will know what the ground rules are," he said, adding that he has also received positive indications from the department on this issue.
The tribunal is currently issuing about 450 decisions per month, with an average wait of up to 16 weeks for a substantive hearing, down from an average nine months wait two years ago.
The tribunal has dealt with more than 8,000 appeals in the past two years and has been named in 160 judicial review cases in the High Court, 55 of which are currently "live", according to Mr Farrell.
Mr Farrell said this judicial review rate shows that there is not a "systematic problem", although he would prefer if no such cases proceeded to the High Court.