The Chairperson of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal, Ms Hilkka Becker, has presented the Tribunal’s Annual Report to the Minister for Justice, Simon Harris TD, and the report has been laid before the Houses of the Oireachtas. In her foreword to the Annual Report, Ms Becker stated:
“It is with great pleasure and pride that I present this Annual Report to the Minister for Justice, Mr Simon Harris TD. Since its establishment at the end of 2016, just six years ago, the Tribunal has made a significant contribution to the international protection system here in Ireland, making the system more efficient and ensuring its consistence with fairness and natural justice.
The many innovations introduced through the initiative of the Tribunal Registrar, Pat Murray, who left the Tribunal in March 2023 after more than six years of dedicated service, and his staff team, have enabled the Tribunal, inter alia, to embed the use of audio-video technology as a parallel and equivalent method for the conduct of oral hearings, thereby increasing its accessibility and productivity.
During the course of the year 2022, the number of appeals reaching the Tribunal increased by 53%: from 768 to 1180 and the number of completed appeals increased by 28%: from 1228 to 1571, the highest number since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020. Moreover, and thanks to the dedication and commitment of staff and Members of the Tribunal, we completed the majority of appeals that had been delayed due to the COVID-19 restrictions over 2020 and 2021, and the Tribunal also significantly reduced processing times for new appeals received in 2022.
A substantial increase in appeals is expected early in 2023 and beyond and it is essential that the Tribunal, as the first instance appeal body tasked with providing an effective remedy to those seeking to challenge administrative decisions regarding their applications for international protection and certain related matters, is equipped to deal with those appeals expeditiously and in line with fairness and natural justice.
I look forward to working with our colleagues in the Department of Justice on ensuring that the Tribunal is adequately resourced to meet this challenge, including by making the best use of innovative technologies, such as the use of electronic signatures already introduced by the Tribunal and the further digitalisation of the Tribunal’s file management.”
You can view the 2022 Annual Report here.