Department of Justice officials are examining plans to speed up the processing of asylum seekers' applications by establishing a single procedure, instead of processing requests through several different agencies.
Brian Ingoldsby, the principal officer at the civil law reform division of the Department of Justice, said the current system was lengthy and did not serve the best interests of genuine applicants or the State. New plans would seek to ensure decisions are made in a "fair, complete and timely" way.
At present there is an examination of the refugee-related aspects of a case by the independent Refugee Applications Commissioners. A negative decision may be appealed to the independent Refugee Appeals Tribunal.
If there is a further negative decision, there may be another detailed examination of the case.
"We are looking at the possibilities for examining all aspects, protection-related and otherwise, of the person's desire to stay in Ireland all together and at the earliest point possible in the process: of providing to the greatest extent possible a single procedure, at the end of which applicants would have a complete answer to the question, 'can I stay?'," he said.
It is one of a number of proposals being examined by senior department officials involved in drafting a new Immigration and Residence Bill.
The details emerged at a public conference at which they spoke on Saturday organised by the Irish Human Rights Commission and the Law Society of Ireland on migrant workers and human rights law.
The plans, which are still at discussion stage, include:
The new legislation aims to reorganise and develop an immigration system to cope with significant increases in the volumes of people seeking to live and work here.
Mr Ingoldsby told the conference that work on the Bill was not finalised and many options were still being examined.
Recent legislation has been "piecemeal and stop-gap" and the new legislation would allow for a complete replacement of existing law which would draw both from some existing measures and new proposals.
A key feature of the Bill is likely to be the provision for statements of immigration policy made by the Minister which would guide the day-to-day operation of the Act by immigration officers.
"Everyone will know what the criteria are for permanent migration to Ireland, for temporary migration, for visits and so forth. They'll be there on the web for all to see," Mr Ingoldsby said.
Plans for new credit-card sized residence permits, he added, were aimed at combining several functions into one document.
Paul Burns, principal officer at the immigration policy unit at the Department, told the conference that it will be necessary for criteria underlying decision-making in many areas of the immigration system to be published.
An immigration officers' manual will be issued, that will set out instructions given to staff working in the immigration area.
