The High Court has refused challenges by two long-term residents to decisions denying them Irish citizenship because they had not satisfied the statutory requirement to be of good character.
Kamouru Abiodun Alabi, a Nigerian national who has lived in Ireland since 2002, applied for naturalisation in February 2022. His wife and four sons are Irish citizens. Mr Alabi had been sentenced in December 2014 to three years’ imprisonment, with the final year suspended, for offences under the Criminal Justice (Theft and Fraud Offences) Act 2001. He had not offended since and was in steady employment.
Fabricio Cardoso Seidler, a Brazilian national living in Ireland since 2012, applied for citizenship in July 2020. His application was refused after consideration of two convictions for driving without insurance, which resulted in fines and disqualifications.
Both men argued that the Minister’s decisions were legally flawed, including because refusal letters referred to the Minister’s “absolute discretion”. They also argued that insufficient weight had been given to the passage of time since their offences and subsequent good behaviour.
Mr Justice Cian Ferriter rejected those arguments. He found that although the wording about “absolute discretion” in the refusal letters was loose, the accompanying departmental recommendations made it clear that both applications were refused because the good-character condition had not been met.
The judge found that each recommendation had considered the applicants’ positive circumstances, including family ties, employment, remorse and years without further offending, as well as the seriousness and nature of their past conduct.
The court also rejected an argument that the seven-year period used for certain spent convictions should guide citizenship decisions. The spent-conviction rules expressly do not govern naturalisation applications, and the weight given to old convictions must depend on the circumstances of each case.
Both judicial review applications were refused. The judgment notes that either man remains free to apply for naturalisation again in future.