New legislation to overhaul the country's asylum system takes effect today.
The EU migration pact comes into force, streamlining a European wide approach to asylum, border management and integration.
Cavan-Monaghan TD Matt Carthy has said that the huge increase in the number of pending international protection appeals shows that Government has failed to tackle the dysfunction within the IPAS system.
The Sinn Féin spokesperson on Justice, Home Affairs and Migration was speaking as the implementation date for the EU Migration and Asylum Pact starts today.
The latest figures from the Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration showed that the number of pending appeals had reached a record of 20,469 in April 2026.
There are now a record number of international protection appeals pending.
Speaking to Northern Sound, Deputy Carthy said this confirms that the Government has failed to address the dysfunction within the IPAS system.
Rather than actually tackle these failures, Deputy Carthy believes the Government has sought to give the impression that EU Migration and Asylum Pact is the answer to the problems we face.
He explained: "The reality is that it was a serious mistake for Fianna Fáil and Fine Gael to opt-in to the pact and Sinn Féin has been clear in our opposition from the outset. It was and remains the wrong decision to hand-over powers on migration to the European Union.
"This will not fix problems that are the result of government incompetence. On this and other areas, the Irish Governments should be defending the right of the Irish people to make these decisions, not handing more and more powers to Brussels."
