State wins appeal on asylum accommodation
The Court of Appeal has upheld an appeal by the State against a High Court judgment delivered last year on the rights of international-protection applicants.
The lower court had granted a declaration that, in failing to provide accommodation for international-protection applicants, the State had breached their human rights.
The High Court proceedings had been brought by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC).
‘Extreme material poverty’
In his ruling, Mr Justice Anthony Collins said that IHREC had shown that applicants for international protection who presented to the IPO [International Protection Office] between 4 December 2023 and 10 May 2024 were “placed in a situation of extreme material poverty” due to a lack of accommodation.
He added, however, that IHREC had not proved that this situation “undermined the physical and/or mental health of the members of that class of persons or put the members of that class in a state of degradation incompatible with human dignity”.
“A finding that a person is in a situation of extreme material poverty, by reason of which he or she cannot meet his or her most basic needs, does not automatically give rise to the inference that a person’s health is thereby undermined or that s/he is in a state of degradation incompatible with human dignity,” the judgment stated.
“Both of these elements must be proved to establish the presence of a breach of article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU,” Mr Justice Collins added.
Appeal to be considered
While IHREC expressed disappointment with the ruling, it welcomed the court’s finding, “contrary to the State’s argument”, that it was entitled to bring the case under the legal powers provided to it by section 14 of the IHREC Act 2014.
“We will closely examine this judgment, and the commission as a whole will consider whether or not to appeal,” said chief commissioner Liam Herrick.
“In the meantime, the substantive issues remain,” he stated, adding that thousands of international-protection applicants were experiencing extreme material poverty.