The High Court has quashed a refusal of H.M. Ashique’s naturalisation application after finding that the Minister for Justice and Equality assessed it on a mistaken factual basis.
In a judgment dated 3 April 2019, Mr Justice Max Barrett said the Minister’s refusal letter of 3 May 2018 relied on a departmental assessment stating that the applicant was not considered to be of good character because of offences resulting in court convictions.
The information attached to the assessment listed a €500 fine following a 2017 liquor licensing matter involving trading without a licence, described as a shebeen offence, with the Probation Act applied. It also listed a separate 2017 matter involving no insurance and failure to produce an insurance certificate, which was dismissed.
The judge noted that an order under section 1(1) of the Probation of Offenders Act 1907 may be made without proceeding to conviction. Counsel for Mr Ashique had made clear that he had received one conviction, and described the probation outcome as not being a conviction.
The judgment also observed that dismissal, by itself, would not normally indicate non-compliance with the law. It said that if the Minister had considered that facts behind the dismissed matter nevertheless raised doubts about the applicant’s character, fair procedures would have required those concerns to be put to him before deciding the application. The judgment said that issue did not appear to arise in this case.
The court found the assessment referred to plural “offences” and “convictions”, although the applicant had only one conviction. It also said the offence for which the €500 fine was imposed appeared to be under section 146 of the Spirits Act 1880, which carries a maximum fine of €125. The Minister had therefore proceeded on the mistaken understanding that there was more than one conviction and that the offence could attract a €500 fine.
Having found the decision was not grounded in the facts actually before the Minister, the court did not address whether the character finding was unreasonable or whether the reasoning was sufficiently clear. It granted an order of certiorari quashing the refusal and remitted the application to the Minister for fresh consideration. The judgment does not determine the naturalisation application itself.