The High Court has set aside the refusal of a woman’s application for Irish citizenship, finding that the recommendation to the decision-maker omitted her explanations about a false passport and that the decision did not give adequate reasons.
Mr Justice Garrett Simons ruled that the submission and recommendation prepared by officials failed to meet fair procedures. The woman had applied for a certificate of naturalisation in 2017, providing a Somali passport in her name. A Garda Technical Bureau examination found that the passport was genuine but its bio-data page had been replaced with a counterfeit page.
The department’s recommendation cited the false passport as the reason the woman did not satisfy the good character requirement. It also noted that the matter had been referred to An Garda Síochána to investigate whether an offence had been committed. That investigation had not concluded when the recommendation was made.
The judge said the recommendation left out the explanations she had provided through solicitors. She had said she obtained the passport in good faith through a member of the Somali community and was unsure whether it was genuine. Her solicitors also described practical difficulties in obtaining a passport from Somalia and an unsuccessful attempt by her and her husband to travel via the Netherlands to Belgium to apply for new passports at the Somali Embassy there.
The court also noted that she had raised concerns about the passport’s genuineness herself, without being prompted by the department. The judge said this was relevant to the assessment of her character, while the weight to be given to it was for the decision-maker. He stressed that submitting a false passport was serious and could justify refusal absent a reasonable explanation, but the decision-maker had to be informed of and carefully consider explanations and potentially exculpatory circumstances.
The judge held that the omissions were fatal to the refusal. Because the decision-maker approved the recommendation without adding separate reasons, the recommendation also served as the record of reasons. It did not explain how the woman’s representations had been assessed.
The court ordered certiorari, setting aside the refusal decision dated 7 December 2021, and remitted the matter to the Minister for reconsideration in accordance with the court’s findings. It did not decide whether the woman should receive citizenship. The judge’s view on costs was provisional: he considered that she was entitled to recover her costs, subject to any different order sought by either party. The case could be listed on 29 November 2022 if the parties disagreed with the proposed orders.