The High Court has refused an applicant an extension of time to pursue a judicial review of decisions refusing her permission to remain in Ireland, finding that her application was filed well beyond the relevant deadlines. The court added that, even if the challenge had been brought in time, she would not have been entitled to the reliefs sought.
Mr Justice Cian Ferriter delivered judgment on 29 March 2022 in proceedings brought by L.O., a Nigerian national. She sought to quash the Minister for Justice and Equality’s 14 November 2019 refusal of permission to remain and decision that her return to Nigeria would not breach the prohibition on refoulement. She also challenged a deportation order made on 13 December 2019 and issued on 31 January 2020.
The applicant argued that the Minister had failed to take account of her status as a suspected victim of trafficking and had not properly considered her claims about humanitarian circumstances and risk on return. She also challenged the reasons given for the decisions and the use of country information. The Minister opposed the challenge.
The judgment recounts that the International Protection Appeals Tribunal had rejected the applicant’s account of being trafficked for sexual exploitation and other central parts of her protection claim. That determination was not challenged by judicial review. The judge found that the Minister’s review document had engaged with the submissions actually made on the applicant’s behalf, including the claim about how her Irish visa was obtained. He said the Minister could rely on the earlier protection decisions when considering refoulement.
The judge also considered evidence from Detective Garda Paul Kelly that the Garda investigation into the trafficking claims had concluded in September 2019 after available lines of inquiry were exhausted. He described it as regrettable that the applicant had not been told the investigation was closed, but found that this did not alter its status. He concluded that the applicant had received the relevant protective mechanisms and had no outstanding entitlement to a recovery and reflection period or temporary residence permission after the investigation ended.
Although the judge considered a section of the country report cited in the review document difficult to connect to the applicant’s trafficking risk claim, he accepted the Minister’s submission that it was not an operative error, given the other reasons for rejecting the claim. He also found the decisions adequately reasoned and identified no error of law in the complaints about the applicant’s circumstances and connection with Ireland.
The decisions were communicated in November 2019 and the deportation order notified in January 2020. The judicial review application was filed on 14 September 2020. The judge accepted that Covid restrictions made matters logistically harder but found no good and sufficient reason for the delay, which exceeded the applicable time limits by months. He refused an extension of time. Separately, he concluded that the applicant would not have been entitled to any of the reliefs sought even if the timing issue had not prevented the challenge.