I am pleased to present to you the Annual Report of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal for the year 2019.
Over the year, the Tribunal has continued to increase its output and in many ways, 2019 could be considered the Tribunal’s first year of reaching full operational capacity with the Tribunal Members having gained the necessary experience in this complex area of law and having fully developed their skills as quasi-judicial decision makers. Moreover, vacancies in the staff complement of the Tribunal were mostly filled by the end of the year, thereby enabling the Registrar of the Tribunal, Pat Murray, to increase the efficiency of the administration of the Tribunal.
As a result, over the two-year period from 2017 to 2019, the Tribunal’s overall output regarding decisions and otherwise completed appeals increased by 221%; and I look forward to being in a position to measure 2019’s output against what we are working towards in 2020, and I am confident we will be reporting further improvements, in particular with regard to processing times.
I would like to thank the Department of Justice and Equality for its collegiality and provision of support to the Tribunal throughout 2019 and for working with the Tribunal on establishing new governance structures in the context of the Department’s own Transformation Programme and in consideration of the Tribunal’s status as a quasi-judicial body that is independent in the performance of its functions.
I am grateful also to the Registrar, Deputy Chairpersons, staff and Members of the Tribunal for the extraordinary effort they are making at this difficult time, arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, to ensure the excellent work of the Tribunal continues, and in particular that this Annual Report could be completed on time and in line with the Tribunal’s statutory duties.
The full report can be accessed here.