The High Court has refused M’s application for judicial review of a decision refusing her a certificate of naturalisation, finding that the reasons given for the refusal were sufficient and that the decision could be made by a Department of Justice official acting under the Carltona principle.
In a judgment delivered on 23 February 2024, Ms Justice Miriam O’Regan said the Minister was entitled to find that M did not meet the statutory good character requirement. The refusal relied on three road traffic convictions, including a 2021 careless-driving conviction following an accident. The court said the decision referred to the convictions, penalties and the applicant’s explanations, and that its underlying rationale was clear and intelligible.
M argued that the refusal was inconsistent, irrational and disproportionate, and that she had not been given adequate reasons. She also argued that the Minister had failed to account for time without further offences, that older convictions should no longer count, and that the decision was inconsistent with a grant of long-term residency for five years from July 2022.
The judge rejected those grounds. She found that the conviction dates showed the decision-maker was aware of when the offences occurred, and that the record supported the conclusion that M had shown disregard for road traffic laws. The court said the earlier convictions could still be considered and that the different statutory contexts meant the long-term residency grant did not make the naturalisation refusal irrational. The proportionality argument also failed because the application concerned a discretionary privilege rather than a right identified as having been interfered with.
The court separately considered whether the Minister had to decide the application personally. The decision had been made by a Principal Officer in the Department under established procedures. The judge held that the Irish-law Carltona principle permits responsible officials to exercise some ministerial powers, unless legislation clearly or by necessary implication rules that out. She found no such restriction in the Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act 1956, as amended.
The application was refused. The judge’s costs view was provisional: because the respondent had succeeded, she proposed that the respondent receive costs, subject to agreement or written submissions from the parties within 14 days of delivery of the judgment.