The High Court has refused all relief sought by Miguel Nsungani in a challenge to the Minister for Justice and Equality’s refusal of his naturalisation application.
In a judgment dated 21 December 2018, Mr Justice Max Barrett said the Minister had considered a Garda report and submissions made in support of the application. The report referred to motoring offences and an alleged incident in which section 12 of the Child Care Act was invoked.
The court said the Minister had treated the child-care matter as alleged, rather than as an established incident. It also noted that motor offences could be considered when assessing an applicant’s character. The court’s role was limited to reviewing whether the Minister had acted arbitrarily, capriciously or autocratically. It found that he had not.
The judgment said proportionality could form part of the Minister’s exercise of discretion, including when distinguishing between the seriousness of different criminal behaviours. The court found no evidence of a lack of proportionality in this case.
Nsungani also argued that EU law applied to his application, that submissions he made on 6 November 2017 had not been considered, and that the process breached Articles 6 and/or 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
On EU law, the court referred to an earlier High Court decision indicating that acquisition of national citizenship is a sovereign matter for EU member states. On the submissions, it relied on an uncontroverted affidavit from a senior department official stating they had been considered and the recommendation to refuse remained unchanged. The court said the Convention argument had not been greatly developed in submissions and found no breach.
Nsungani had sought an order of certiorari, declarations and other relief. The court refused all relief. The judgment records the outcome of the judicial review challenge; it does not state that the alleged child-care incident was established.