Calls for asylum seeker legal aid after State paid €1.5m in costs
The Government is being urged to provide legal aid for asylum seekers, and to implement measures recommended by the Catherine Day Advisory Group to resource the system to deal with applications in a faster manner. Picture: iStock
The State paid more than €1.5m in costs in 2020 and 2021 as a result of cases taken by asylum seekers who were refused asylum in Ireland.
The Government is being urged to provide legal aid for asylum seekers, and to implement measures recommended by the Catherine Day Advisory Group to resource the system to deal with applications in a faster manner.
Information obtained from the Irish Protection Office (IPO) under the Freedom of Information Act showed that almost €900,000 was paid out in 2020, along with more than €600,000 before the end of October 2021.
It was also revealed that more than 150 cases were taken against the IPO between January 2020 and October 2021 for decisions made in relation to asylum-seeker applications.
The IPO explained that the cost figures have no direct correlation with the number of cases taken in each respective year as many cases will be before the courts for more than 12 months, and costs paid in any given year could include costs incurred in court proceedings taken a number of years previously.
The IPO also said the cases taken in 2020 and 2021 involved challenges to negative recommendations made by the IPO in relation to international protection (refugee status and subsidiary protection), and challenges to negative decisions made by Justice Minister Helen McEntee in relation to permission to remain or permission to remain reviews.
Some 1,566 applications for international protection were made in 2020, along with another 1,808 applications up to the end of October 2021, according to the IPO figures
In 2020, the IPO made 523 first instance recommendations to grant international protection, 1,553 recommendations to refuse international protection, and 100 decisions to grant permission to remain.
In 2021, to the end of October, the IPO made 618 first instance recommendations to grant international protection, 865 recommendations to refuse international protection, and 409 decisions to grant permission to remain.
These figures relate to the year in which the recommendation decision was made and not to the year in which the application was received.
The IPO said it does not have statistics on the average application processing time for successful and unsuccessful applications.
However, the median processing time for international protection applications processed to completion at first instance in 2020 was 17.6 months, and 23 months for cases processed to completion in Quarter 3 of 2021.
A spokesperson for the Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) said the organisation is concerned about the Irish Government's refusal to provide legal aid for asylum seekers to challenge IPO, IPAT (International Protection Appeals Tribunal), and the minister's decisions in relation to the asylum process.
“This places asylum seekers at a great disadvantage as they have to face an often hostile bureaucracy when it comes to issuing decisions,” said Bulelani Mfaco.
“We have previously called on the minister to review asylum interviews and decisions as both the IPO and IPAT have made cruel decisions and the Minister stands over such decisions.
“The Catherine Day Advisory Group called on the Government to provide legal aid for asylum seekers to take judicial reviews, allocate adequate resources for processing asylum claims, and impose legally binding deadlines for issuing decisions with first instance decisions issued within six months from the application date,” added Mr Mfaco.
“The Government has not committed to implementing any of those crucial changes that would improve the Irish asylum system for both the State and asylum seekers.
“MASI calls on Minister McEntee to fully implement the recommendations in the Catherine Day Advisory Group report and not cherry-pick which recommendations to implement.”
Both the IPO and Department of Justice were contacted for comment.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
