The High Court has refused an anonymised applicant leave to appeal a judgment dismissing his challenge to an international protection decision and a deportation order. It also directed the Minister for Justice and Equality to deliver papers concerning a job offer to the Garda Síochána so that appropriate inquiries could be made.
In the earlier judgment, the court dismissed the applicant’s judicial review of an International Protection Office decision refusing permission to remain in the State on review, dated 8 August 2018, and of a deportation order made on 19 November 2018. The application heard on 15 July 2019 sought leave to appeal that dismissal.
The applicant proposed two questions of exceptional public importance. The first asked whether the Minister had confused the assessment required under section 49(3) of the International Protection Act 2015 with an Article 8 European Convention on Human Rights test. The judge said the question was specific to the facts and that the earlier decision showed both matters had been considered. He also rejected a proposed question about whether an earlier Supreme Court test applied to the Minister’s statutory duties, saying no basis had been given to revisit it.
The second proposed question concerned the Minister considering material from the applicant’s international protection file without giving him an opportunity to comment. The judge said that premise was inaccurate: the address-change letters at issue had been sent on the applicant’s behalf to meet a statutory notification obligation. The judge had previously found the address reference was not central to the decision, was within the applicant’s knowledge, and had not been disputed. The applicant had also not explained what response he would have made.
The court further held that section 49 did not limit the Minister to information submitted by an applicant. It required consideration of the applicant’s family and personal circumstances generally, as well as information submitted in the circumstances specified by the Act. The judge said the applicant had not explained by affidavit how he supported himself in private accommodation while objecting to the Minister taking account of that accommodation.
The court dismissed the leave application, finding that the proposed points did not meet the threshold. Separately, referring to concerns recorded in the earlier judgment about the genuineness of a job-offer document, the judge directed the respondent to deliver the papers to Gardaí for appropriate inquiries. The judgment does not state the outcome of any investigation.