The Court of Appeal has dismissed challenges by two Somali nationals to decisions treating their Irish international protection applications as inadmissible because they had already been granted refugee status in Greece.
The men, identified only as A.A.H. and M.H.A., entered Ireland in spring 2022 after previously spending periods in Greece. Greek authorities confirmed that both had received refugee status and residence permits there.
The International Protection Office found their Irish applications inadmissible, and the International Protection Appeals Tribunal upheld those conclusions. The High Court rejected subsequent judicial review challenges in December 2024.
On appeal, the central issue was whether evidence of homelessness and destitution affecting recognised refugees generally in Greece was enough to establish that returning either man would breach Article 4 of the EU Charter, which prohibits inhuman or degrading treatment.
Mr Justice Anthony Collins, delivering the Court of Appeal judgment, held that it was not. Under the test established by the Court of Justice of the European Union in Ibrahim, a person must show a real risk that his own circumstances would expose him to extreme material poverty of sufficient severity. General evidence concerning conditions faced by a wider group may be relevant, but is not determinative without an individual assessment.
The court also considered a separate issue raised by M.H.A. concerning information relied upon by the Appeals Tribunal. It held that section 46(8)(b) of the International Protection Act 2015 requires the Tribunal, once it has decided an appeal, to identify in writing the nature and source of other information that came to its attention. It does not require that material to be supplied in advance so submissions can be made upon it.
The remaining grounds, including complaints about the absence of oral appeal hearings and the Tribunal's treatment of evidence concerning conditions in Greece, were also dismissed. The respondents were provisionally entitled to their Court of Appeal costs.