The High Court refused an applicant leave to seek judicial review of a decision rejecting his appeal against a recommendation that he not be declared a refugee. The court also granted an unopposed extension of time to bring the application.
The anonymised applicant, who claimed to be Somali and a member of the Tumaal minority group, applied for asylum in Ireland in August 2005. The Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended against granting refugee status in March 2006. Following an oral hearing, the Refugee Appeals Tribunal affirmed that recommendation in July 2006.
The applicant argued that the tribunal’s assessment of country information about protection available to the Tumaal contained a material factual error. He also challenged its conclusion that his account lacked credibility, relying in part on the tribunal’s assessment of his travel history. A third challenge concerned the tribunal’s inference from his answer about weather in Somalia that he was not from the country, or had been away for at least five years.
The High Court rejected the first two challenges. It found no material error in the tribunal member’s understanding of the UK Home Office report, and said the report could support the conclusion that the applicant’s belief about the absence of protection from majority clans was not supported by objective evidence. The court also held that the inconsistencies and omissions in the travel account could reasonably support the tribunal’s adverse credibility finding.
The judge agreed that the tribunal’s inference from the answer about the weather was unjustified: the applicant’s answer that Somalia was hot was correct, though incomplete. But the court found this error was not material because the tribunal had already reached its credibility conclusion for other reasons.
The court held that the applicant had not shown substantial grounds for arguing that the tribunal’s decision was invalid or should be quashed. It therefore refused leave to apply for judicial review. The judgment concerned permission to bring a judicial review challenge; it did not itself reconsider the asylum claim.