The failure of the Minister for Justice to make decisions within time limits on a range of asylum and refugee applications has left many applicants in "legal limbo" and has led to a flow of High Court challenges.
The failure to make such decisions is being challenged almost on a weekly basis via judicial review applications before the High Court, and Mr Justice Iarfhlaith O'Neill yesterday dealt with a further two such applications.
In both cases the judge granted counsel leave to bring challenges to the Minister's failure.
In one of those cases, an English national, Christina Miller, and her Pakistani husband, Mumtaz Malik, with an address in Ballymun, Dublin, secured leave to challenge the Minister's failure to make a decision within the six-month limit set by the relevant regulations to decide Mr Malik's application for residency on the basis on being the spouse of an Irish resident.
Ms Miller is legally resident here and married Mr Malik in Ireland.
In a second case, counsel for the applicant said the failure to make a decision on her client's application to remain here had left him in a "legal limbo".
Similar applications have come before the High Court on a regular basis over recent months.
Counsel for a range of parties have complained that the delays in making decisions has led to adverse consequences for their clients, including children.