Sinn Féin’s justice spokesman Matt Carthy used new parliamentary data released on 8 October 2026 to highlight what he calls a “dysfunctional” asylum-appeals system, revealing that 21 203 cases were pending before the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) on 1 October. The figure is the highest since the body’s creation in 2017 and comes despite the government’s decision in June to establish a parallel Tribunal for Asylum and Returns Appeals (TARA) for post-2026 applications. IPAT, which handles legacy appeals lodged under the International Protection Act 2015, has struggled to recruit enough members amid sustained growth in protection claims, most recently from Ukraine, Sudan and Gaza. While the Department of Justice has seconded temporary caseworkers from the EU Agency for Asylum, throughput has not kept pace with monthly inflows of new files. For employers the immediate concern is that long-term asylum seekers may remain in the Direct Provision accommodation system for years without clarity on work entitlements—creating uncertainty for community employment schemes and complicating right-to-work checks. A stalled appeal can also delay family-reunification visas, keeping dependants abroad and impacting employee well-being and retention. Carthy is calling for emergency legislation to transfer all pre-2026 appeals to the new TARA and to permit conditional labour-market access after six months, aligning Ireland with EU Reception Conditions Directive standards. The government says it is reviewing resource allocations ahead of the 2027 Budget but argues that procedural fairness cannot be sacrificed for speed. Mobility managers with staff awaiting appeal outcomes should prepare for continued delays into 2027 and may need to explore temporary permission pathways—such as Stamp 4 Residence Permission Transition Schemes—to retain talent already in situ. Legal advisers note that judicial review remains an option where ‘undue delay’ can be proven, but warn that High Court proceedings are costly and time-consuming.
Source: Sinn Féin Press Release
