New figures suggest that the number of asylum-seekers coming to Ireland may be starting to fall. Fewer than 2,000 applications were received in the first half of the year, compared with 4,626 for the whole of 1998.
A spokesman for the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform acknowledged that it had noticed a fall in the number of applications but could not yet say if this would continue.
The latest figures from the Department also show the number of asylum applications processed in the first six months of this year has exceeded the total number of those processed in 1998.
Up to the end of June this year 3,037 decisions were made, of which 198 were to grant refugee status and 2,773 were refused. A further 1,294 were deemed abandoned.
The increase in the number of decisions is the result of the increase in staff and resources put in place to deal with the huge backlog in applications.
In the 13 months since May 1998, 5,002 interviews were scheduled, of which 3,353 were carried out. Many of the interviews related to applications made in the years 1996 and 1997.
The figures also show a dramatic rise in the number of appeals against refusals, following the appointment of four Independent Appeals Authorities. Of the 1,179 applications made in 1996, 355 of the decisions were appealed.
In 1997 there were 3,883 applications and 1,004 decisions appealed.
In 1998, 636 decisions were appealed, but some of these applications have yet to receive a first decision.
At the end of June this year there were 1,906 cases still on hand. This compares with 2,819 at the end of December last year, showing that in six months the backlog has been reduced by almost 1,000.
Welcoming the improvement, the Minister, Mr O'Donoghue, said: "The days when applicants for asylum were left waiting for years before their applications were considered are well and truly over."
He said that today an asylum-seeker arriving in the State is likely to be interviewed within eight or nine months, and an appeal would be heard by one of the four Independent Appeals Authorities within three months of it being lodged.
It is projected that from July next year new arrivals will receive a substantive interview and determination of status within a matter of weeks and appeals against refusals will be heard within six months of original arrival in the State, he said.