The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has asked the Supreme Court for leave to appeal a ruling that the State had not breached the human right to dignity of international protection applicants by failing to accommodate them.
The Court of Appeal (CoA) last July upheld the State’s appeal against a High Court ruling on proceedings taken by the commission.
The High Court found in August of last year that, in failing to provide them with accommodation, the State breached the human right to dignity of single male international protection applicants.
The CoA accepted the commission had proven, based on testimony from 13 applicants, the men were in a situation of extreme material poverty. It disagreed that the group’s health issues were representative of all applicants in similar positions, saying the evidence was limited to those individuals’ experiences.
RM Block
The commission, the appeal court held, had not provided adequate evidence to prove the physical or mental health of unaccommodated applicants was undermined, or they were in a state of degradation incompatible with human dignity.
The CoA rejected the State’s argument that the commission was not entitled to bring the case for reasons including its efforts to increase payments to people seeking international protection who had not been accommodated.
The commission had a right, under section 41 of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission Act, to bring the case, it held.
After the CoA judgment issued, IHREC described it as “significant” and said it would consider whether or not to appeal.
Its chief commissioner, Liam Herrick, said the substantive issues remain, noting that there were 1,333 international protection applicants without accommodation in July and thousands of applicants experiencing “extreme material poverty”.
The commission on Thursday said it had applied to the Supreme Court for permission to appeal the CoA’s decision.
A panel of Supreme Court judges will now consider the application and issue a determination on it in due course.
An appeal will only be heard by the Supreme Court if the panel determines that an issue of general public importance has been raised or that an appeal is in the interests of justice.
