The High Court quashed a Refugee Appeals Tribunal decision in the case of an anonymised asylum applicant, finding the tribunal had not clearly decided whether he was Somali and of Bajuni ethnicity or assessed whether he faced persecution in Somalia on that basis.
Mr Justice Colm Mac Eochaidh ruled on 7 February 2013 that the applicant’s ethnicity and nationality were central to his international protection claim and required a clear, reasoned assessment. He ordered the matter remitted to the tribunal, with directions about how it should approach its next decision.
The applicant said he was Somali and belonged to the Bajuni minority, which he claimed faced persecution by majority clans. He said his parents had been murdered and that he escaped Somalia in 2003. The judgment records evidence submitted in support of his claimed background, including interview records noting Bajuni interpretation and letters from an Irish Bajuni organisation.
The applicant had previously sought asylum in Luxembourg and did not disclose that application when applying in Ireland. He said he had applied there as a Burundian on the advice of an agent who arranged his journey. A letter from his former Luxembourg lawyer supported that account. Ireland’s refugee appeals tribunal had earlier been told by the Refugee Applications Commissioner that he applied in Luxembourg as a Somali.
The tribunal’s decision under challenge treated the applicant’s explanation for the false nationality as unreasonable or not credible, but gave no reason for that conclusion, the judge said. It also stated that he had provided no documents in support of his claim, although he had submitted documents. The judge described that statement as erroneous, while noting it was not, by itself, the central reason for quashing the decision.
The respondents argued that the tribunal’s decision should be read as finding that the applicant was not Somali or Bajuni. The judge rejected that interpretation, finding any such conclusion too opaque to identify. He upheld the challenge that the tribunal had failed to decide the central issue and to assess the claimed risk of persecution linked to Bajuni ethnicity.
The court directed that the judgment be placed on the relevant file and that the next tribunal decision follow the views expressed in it. It also directed that the file record the fate of each earlier tribunal decision in the applicant’s case. The ruling did not decide whether the applicant was Somali or Bajuni, or whether he qualified for protection.
The judge noted that the appeal had remained outstanding for more than seven years. The source judgment says asylum seekers in Ireland were not permitted to work and referred to an allowance of about €19.10 a week.