About 15,250 cases could be lodged this year to the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT), the Department of Justice has told its new Minister, Jim O’Callaghan.
In briefing material published on Friday it said that about 62 per cent of those seeking international protection in Ireland appealed their initial application decision.
However, it warned that it faced challenges in securing sufficient personnel to operate the appeal system and was looking for approval to raise fees.
“Due to increases in decisions made by the IPO over the past 18 months, the tribunal has had to contend with an unprecedented increase in the number of appeals received.” said the briefing. “At the end of 2022 the number of appeals on hand stood at 851. This has increased every month to now stand at 9,232, (December 31st, 2024) despite concerted efforts over the past two years to recruit more decision makers into the tribunal.
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“While administrative staff have doubled over this period, the recruitment of decision makers (who are qualified solicitors or barristers) has (been) more challenging – partly due to statutory requirements but also partly due to how long the recruitment and clearance processes take. In addition a submission has been made (to the Department of Public Expenditure) to increase decision makers' fees.”
In 2023, the State paid €833,000 in fees to IPAT members.
Department of Justice officials said applications for international protection in Ireland reached an all-time high in 2024 of 18,500.
“Additional measures have been put in place to enhance border control at airports; however, a significant proportion of international protection applicants are arriving by other routes (in 2024, the majority of all international protection applicants made their initial application for asylum at the IPO rather than at a port or airport].”
“A border risk assessment is currently under way; once completed, this will feed into an overall common travel area assessment in conjunction with the United Kingdom.”
Overall, the department maintained that labour migration was an “essential component” in addressing the challenge posed by demographics. It said that currently there were 23 pensioners for every 100 people in the workforce but that this figure was expected to rise to 44 retired people per 100 in the workforce by 2051.
Mr O’Callaghan was also advised by his officials that additional investment will be needed under the forthcoming revision of the National Development Plan, particularly in relation to prison spaces.
Officials said prisons were operating at around 112 per cent of capacity throughout December 2024 and January 2025.
“As of Friday January 17th, there were 5,015 people in prison, including 260 women.”
It said the female prisons were among the most overcrowded, with Mountjoy (Dóchas Centre) at 123 per cent and Limerick at 143 per cent.
The department said this situation created “very great risks” for staff and prisoners.
“The Irish Prison Service will need a significant uplift in funding from 2027-30 to deliver on the existing plan for 1,100 additional places (155 delivered in 2024/early 2025), this is increased to 1500 places in the programme for government.”
The department said the prison service also required significant investment in its ICT and data capability, “which is very modest for the size of the organisation”.
“Given ongoing capacity demands on the Irish Prison Service, there is also a need to further expand and modernise the fleet of prison vans.”
The Department of Justice also said An Garda Síochána was “widely regarded as lagging behind international policing technology standards and requires significant investment, including to support the back-office processing for body worn cameras, CCTV; additional security requirements, and ongoing support”.
It also said there were 623 Garda personnel assigned to roads policing but that it had “not been possible to reach the desired level (about 700) due to Garda recruitment challenges”.
