The IPAT Annual Report for 2024 was submitted by the Tribunal's Chairperson, Hilkka Becker to Mr. Jim O'Callaghan, Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration on the 31st March 2025 and was laid before the Oireachtas on the 15th April 2025.
The Tribunal had 3,908 appeals pending at the start of 2024. A further 8,835 appeals were lodged during the course of 2024. This is an 85% increase on the 4,775 appeals lodged with the Tribunal in 2023. The Tribunal completed 3,098 appeals in 2024 which is an increase of over 82% on the total completed appeals for 2023 which was 1,701.
The number of appeals completed in 2024 was the highest annual completions by the Tribunal since it was set up in December 2016. At the end of 2024 there was a total of 9,705 appeals pending before the Tribunal which is the highest number of pending appeals registered so far. The record high number of appeals received in 2024 is a result from an increase in applications for international protection made to the International Protection Office and recommendations being made by International Protection Officers. In order to continue to address these significant demands on the Tribunal, IPAT secured further resources for the Tribunal to deliver more appeals in a timely and efficient manner. The staffing levels in the Tribunal administration were increased from 59 staff at the end of 2023 to 79 staff on the 31st December 2024.
The decision-making capacity of the Tribunal has increased with the recruitment, training and onboarding of an additional 39 part-time Tribunal members in 2024, bringing the total number of part-time Tribunal Members to 89 at the end of the year. A key priority in the Tribunal's strategy is the digital transformation of its business processes. With the volume of appeals increasing substantially each year, modernising systems and workflows is essential to meeting operational targets efficiently. In 2024, the Tribunal conducted a comprehensive review of its current processes. The findings from this review informed the business case for the Tribunal's Digital Transformation Programme, aimed at enabling a more efficient, end-to-end appeals processing system. The Tribunal introduced paperless appeal files in 2024 following a successful pilot in late 2023.
All new Tribunal Members are now assigned paperless files only. All Tribunal Members have received paperless file training and feedback to the transition has been very positive. The use of Microsoft PowerApps has assisted in the management of digital files. The Tribunal continues to use the eDocs cloud based system, launched in 2023, for electronic file storage. The performance of this system remains under review, as the volume of appeals increases. The use of editable PDFs for submitting appeal forms is also under ongoing review to identify and implement the most user-friendly and efficient system for appellants and legal representatives.