Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has announced a new strategy for processing international protection claims including the addition of Botswana and Algeria to a list of countries designated as safe.
While individuals from designated safe countries will still be able to make asylum claims these are now to be processed within 10 weeks.
Speaking outside Leinster House today, McEntee said that economic migrants must not be allowed to take advantage of Ireland’s asylum system.
The Department of Justice said that from tomorrow, “Botswana and Algeria will be designated safe countries of origin for the purpose of making a claim for international protection in the state. The existing list of safe countries includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Kosovo, Macedonia (Former Yugoslav Republic of), Montenegro, Serbia and South Africa.”
The Department says that under an accelerated decision making process introduced by the Minister in November 2022, applications from safe countries are currently receiving decisions in less than 90 days.
“While people from safe countries are still entitled to apply for international protection and have their application considered thoroughly, they will have to submit serious grounds that the country is not safe in terms of their personal circumstances.” it said.
Minister McEntee said it was her “priority” that those who are “in need of international protection receive it quickly, and those who are not entitled to it are removed from the system quickly too” adding that this is the “hallmark of a robust and rules based immigration system.”
The Minister continued, “Given the difference the accelerated procedure I introduced in late 2022 has had already, I do expect the addition of Botswana and Algeria to have an immediate impact. Cases from those countries designated as safe are currently receiving a decision in less than 10 weeks and applications from people from those countries are down by 38%.”
Commenting on those who arrive in Ireland claiming asylum from safe countries she said, “I must emphasise however that an application by a person from a safe country still receives a full consideration on its merit by the International Protection Office.”
“We have seen that in the current list of safe countries, there are still grants in cases where people can show that their personal circumstances mean that their country is not safe for them.” she said.
In reference to the new process for people who apply for international protection in Ireland having already been granted protection status in another EU state Minister McEntee said,
“In July 2022, I introduced a visa requirement for those traveling here on convention travel documents to reduce the number of people claiming international protection when they already have it elsewhere.”
She added that in order to “reinforce” this she has also “informed the Government today of the introduction of an expedited procedure for inadmissible applications by people who already have been granted protection in the EU.”
The Department of Justice also said that the Minister had updated the Government in relation to the modernisation process currently underway at the IPO and the subsequent progress on processing international protection applications.
It says that following a “significant investment in staff, reengineered processes and technology”, the International Protection Office has almost doubled the decisions made in 2023, compared to 2022.
Speaking outside Leinster house. McEntee said she is looking at hiring over 80 additional staff to deal with IP applications.
The department of justice says that over the course of the last year, “the International Protection Office increased the number of monthly determinations to over 1,000 in November 2023, and plans to deliver at least 14,000 decisions in 2024, a further increase of 5,000 cases.”
Minister McEntee said, “The International Protection system is currently undergoing a significant modernisation programme to ensure it is agile, robust and fully resourced to meet the unprecedented increase in applications in recent years.”
She said that to date investments made have “significantly improved processing times. Most impressively, there has been a doubling of decisions made in 2023 from the year before.”
“Over the course of 2024 we aim to even further increase capacity and processing times.” she said adding that, “This is all with the aim of ensuring that those who have a right to international protection are given that status as quickly as possible, whilst those who are found to not have that right are removed from the system as quickly as possible too.”
Speaking on governments imminent adoption of the EU’s Immigration and Asylum Pact McEntee said,
“The challenges presented by migration and asylum cannot be effectively addressed by any state acting alone in an increasingly globalised and interdependent world. The Pact seeks to establish a more coherent approach across the EU to migration, asylum, integration and border management, fit for the fast moving world of the 21st century.”
She continued that the pact “aims to provide swift, sustainable and fair procedures for the management of migration and asylum in the EU. It provides for faster and more efficient processing of applications, new accelerated procedures, and a faster returns process.”
Concluding her remarks McEntee said she is undertaking “intensive work to be in a position to advise Government on the implications of opting-in to the Pact. I will bring a recommendation to Government before the end of March.”