The High Court has quashed the Minister for Justice and Equality’s refusal of an Iraqi refugee’s application to bring his parents and two sisters to Ireland, and sent the matter back for reconsideration.
In a judgment delivered on 19 July 2013, Mr Justice Colm Mac Eochaidh found that the Minister’s decision of 18 January 2013 did not adequately explain why medical evidence failed to establish that the family members had disabilities affecting their ability to support themselves. The court also found that the Minister’s assessment of their financial dependency was irrational and relied on a fundamental error about the eldest sister’s earnings.
The applicant, who was granted refugee status in 2008 and worked as a software engineer, applied for family reunification in October 2011. The Minister accepted that the four relatives were his parents and sisters, but concluded that they had not been shown to be dependent on him as required under section 18 of the Refugee Act 1996.
The court said the Minister’s decision did not explain why the medical reports were insufficient to establish the required level of disability. It also noted that the decision did not address evidence of regular money transfers from the applicant to his family. The Minister had reasoned that the eldest sister could potentially continue working as a university lecturer and help support the others. The judge said that conclusion was speculative in light of evidence about her employment status.
The judgment also found that the Minister had taken a preliminary observation in an investigative report by the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner out of context. The observation that dependency was difficult to establish appeared before the report described follow-up questions and answers about the parents’ pension, benefits and home ownership. The court said the Minister could not rely on that observation as though it were a conclusion reached after all the evidence had been considered.
A university letter submitted in the case stated that the eldest sister received a monthly salary of 549,000 Iraqi dinars, approximately €360, and gave her total salary as 1,466,000 dinars, approximately €970. The Minister’s decision had stated that she earned approximately €1,020 per month. The judge held that the undisputed salary error was fundamental and had a decisive effect on the decision.
The court granted certiorari, quashing the refusal and remitting the application for reconsideration. It directed that the judgment be made available to the next officials and Minister, at the applicant’s election. The judgment did not itself grant family reunification.