From the Irish Refugee Council:
The latest European statistics on granting asylum show that Ireland has the third lowest The Irish Refugee Council welcomes the improvement in acceptance rates at first instance, but expresses concern at the continuing below average rate of acceptance in Ireland. 10% of cases were granted status at first instance and just 6.8% were successful at appeal. The total percentage of positive decisions was 8.3% compared with 34% in Portugal, 15% in Spain and 39% in the UK. Only Greece at 4.8%, Cyprus (5%) and Luxembourg (1.7%) had lower acceptance rates.
Sue Conlan, CEO of the Irish Refugee Council, says: "The continuing low numbers of grants of refugee status or subsidiary protection in Ireland, which leads to the huge delays, show that there are serious deficiencies in the decision making processes. In particular, the statistics of 6.8% positive decisions at appeals bear out the severe criticisms of the refugee appeal body, the Refugee Appeal Tribunal, by the superior courts in recent months.
"These deficiencies, which are at the root cause of the delays in the system, will not be remedied without significant reforms, including providing adequate legal advice for applicants and overhauling the appeal body. Neither of which are contained in the proposed the Immigration, Residence and Protection Bill."