The High Court has allowed a Georgian national to proceed with a limited challenge to the Minister's refusal to let him remain in Ireland, while blocking his attempt to reopen the earlier refusal of refugee and subsidiary protection status.
In a ruling delivered on October 17, 2025, Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan granted leave for A.B. to seek judicial review of the permission-to-remain decision made under section 49 of the International Protection Act 2015.
A.B. had claimed that he and his brother faced harm in Georgia following a dispute over farmland with a man referred to as GM, whom he said had influential political connections. The International Protection Appeals Tribunal largely accepted A.B.'s account and found that he had established a well-founded fear of future persecution.
However, the tribunal refused refugee status because it found no link between the feared harm and a Convention ground such as political opinion. It also found that sufficient State protection would realistically be available in Georgia and refused subsidiary protection.
A.B. sought to challenge that decision as well as a later ministerial refusal of permission to remain. The High Court refused leave in relation to the tribunal decision because proceedings were not brought within the 28-day statutory deadline and no good and sufficient reason for extending time had been shown.
The judge nevertheless found an arguable issue in the permission-to-remain decision. Although the Minister's 21-page decision reproduced the tribunal findings, it did not expressly address whether the accepted fear of persecution or serious harm had humanitarian significance under section 49(3). The decision also did not directly engage with a submission about recent political instability in Georgia.
Leave was therefore granted on limited grounds concerning the permission-to-remain refusal. The merits of that challenge remain undecided. Costs of the leave application were reserved, while no costs order was made for the earlier application to reinstate the proceedings.