Plans for an overhaul of Ireland’s international protection system have been approved by Cabinet with Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan describing the proposed legislation as “an important next step in one of the most significant reforms of Irish asylum law in decades”.
Under the plans, asylum seekers will no longer have an automatic right to a full oral hearing if they appeal an international protection refusal.
The proposal to dramatically reduce the average time of the appeals process forms part of draft legislation that will also give effect in Irish law to the EU Migration and Asylum Pact which is due to start in 2026.
The pact, which Ireland has fully adopted, will introduce restrictive measures to limit the number of immigrants gaining access to the European Union.
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On Tuesday the Cabinet approved Mr O’Callaghan’s plan to progress International Protection Bill 2025.
The general scheme – or outline of the Bill – will now be referred to the Oireachtas Committee on Justice for pre-legislative scrutiny.
One aim of the Bill is to fast-track the appeals process for international protection applications.
At present, appeals on applications that have been refused can take as long as 14 months, with an average of almost nine months for all cases. The introduction of a process without oral hearings – save in exceptional cases – is likely to lead to a significant shortening of the process.
Mr O’Callaghan has stated since becoming minister that he wants the entire process of first-instance decisions and appeals to be completed within three months.
[ Asylum system overhaul: What is changing beyond all the talk of reform?Opens in new window ]
In a statement after Cabinet Mr O’Callaghan said: “The current international protection system is not working effectively, with decisions taking far too long.
“The pact offers us an opportunity both here in Ireland and across the EU to reset the system.”
He said the changes in the Bill include “streamlining the decisions process, streamlining the returns process, a new ‘Border procedure’ with a three-month time limit for decisions, and new institutional arrangements for international protection decisions and appeals”.
He added: “It is also proposed that oral hearings of appeals will be significantly more limited than at present.”
Mr O’Callaghan said this would “drive efficiency and time savings” but the reforms will “continue to ensure the rights of applicants, under EU and Irish law, to be heard in the application process and to have an effective remedy in the appeal process.
“These changes are ultimately about giving those who are entitled to international protection the opportunity to rebuild their lives here quickly and, at the same time, ensuring faster removals in respect of those who do not meet the criteria.”
Nick Henderson, chief executive of the Irish Refugee Council, raised concerns about the proposed legislation, saying: “The shift to paper-only appeals is a retrograde and regressive step, a rollback on a well established and important part of a basic asylum process.
“Removing in-person appeals in the name of efficiency is deeply concerning and is likely to backfire, including increasing applications for judicial review.”
Social Democrats TD Gary Gannon said Ireland’s asylum process needs to be “far more efficient”, but added: “that doesn’t mean we should have one that has almost cruelty”.
He said taking decision times down to three months “seems to me something that’s going to be unduly harsh”.
Mr O’Callaghan later responded, telling reporters: “I don’t think it will be cruel. In fact what I think is cruel is for somebody to be in the asylum process and to have their application and consideration of it hanging over them for periods of three years. I think it is much more efficient and fair if we have an asylum process that is determined within three months.”
