Robert Troy (Longford-Westmeath, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Chair for allowing me to ask a question at the committee here today. I listened to the Minister, and I suppose we all want to ensure that we have a system that is fair, efficient and robust, that people can have confidence in, where those who are seeking asylum legitimately are afforded asylum and those who are playing the system are returned to the country they came from. Unfortunately, a higher percentage of the people who we represent do not have confidence in our current system. The Minister said that in years gone by, it had taken much longer to process applications than it currently does. Why did the Department allow a situation to arise - at a time when there were perhaps only 3,000 people seeking international protection - where it took so many years for applications to be processed?