The High Court has rejected a Georgian man’s challenge to the refusal of international protection after finding that the Appeals Tribunal was entitled to question the credibility of his claim that he faced death in a blood feud.
MT, a 23-year-old Georgian national, sought refugee status, subsidiary protection and permission to remain after arriving in Ireland in December 2022. He claimed members of another family wanted to kill him because his father had been involved in a 2018 road crash in which a passenger later died.
MT said the deceased man’s brother and son attacked him in September 2022 and that he subsequently fled Georgia. His protection application was refused by an International Protection Officer, and that decision was upheld by the International Protection Appeals Tribunal in February 2024.
Ms Justice Sara Phelan held that the Tribunal was entitled to take account of inconsistencies between MT’s stated fear and his conduct in Georgia. The Tribunal had noted that he continued attending university, travelled home during holidays and later returned home permanently, despite saying he had feared revenge since 2018.
The court also upheld the Tribunal’s treatment of discrepancies concerning MT’s hospitalisation after the alleged September 2022 attack. MT said he had not undergone surgery, while a medical report he submitted referred to eye surgery. The judge found the Tribunal was entitled to regard that inconsistency as undermining the reliability of the evidence.
A further credibility issue concerned MT’s limited knowledge of court proceedings involving his father and his failure to provide documents after indicating he could try to obtain them.
Separately, the judicial review application had been brought 40 days outside the statutory 28-day limit. The court found no sufficient explanation for that delay and refused an extension, although the judge said the delay might have been forgiven had the substantive challenge succeeded.
All reliefs were refused. The court indicated that costs should ordinarily be awarded to the respondents, subject to further submissions.