The High Court has refused a Croatian woman’s application to quash the dismissal of her refugee appeal, finding no breach of fair procedures on the grounds argued.
In a judgment delivered on 14 November 2006, Mr Justice Feeney considered a challenge to a Refugee Appeals Tribunal decision dated 29 September 2004. The tribunal had dismissed the woman’s appeal and affirmed the Refugee Applications Commissioner’s recommendation that she not receive refugee status.
The woman, who arrived in Ireland in February 2001, argued that the tribunal member had failed to allow her to call Svetlana Pavlovic as a witness. The judge found that the member had said the need for the witness could be assessed as the hearing proceeded. The woman’s counsel did not renew the request after questioning or in later written submissions. The judge concluded there had been no refusal or failure to allow the witness to be called; her evidence had been treated as unnecessary.
The challenge also alleged that the tribunal member had failed to consider positive recommendations in two other asylum cases involving people from the same area, and written submissions and country information sent after the oral hearing. The judge noted that documents about the two recommendations had been provided twice, but counsel had not expressly referred to them in oral or written submissions. He found they had little or no relevance to the issues before the tribunal and said their absence from the written decision did not support an inference that they had been ignored.
On the later submissions, the judge relied on the tribunal member’s statements that he had considered the papers and evidence. He also found that the written decision referred to material from a Human Rights Watch report included with the submissions. The judge concluded that the record did not show that the submissions had been overlooked or that the tribunal had relied on selective quotations or an isolated example of state protection.
The court refused the relief sought. The judgment did not grant an order quashing the tribunal’s decision or remit the asylum claim for rehearing.