Asylum

The High Court in Belfast has quashed the Home Secretary's decision not to allow a Somalian man to make a fresh asylum application nearly 15 years after absconding during the asylum process. Omaar Ismail fled from Somalia in 2002 and claimed asylum in the UK shortly after arriving in London in early

The High Court has ordered that the Minister for Justice and Equality must establish a medical panel for the purposes of section 23 of the International Protection Act 2015. Background

Ireland's human rights watchdog has written to Justice Minister Helen McEntee to set out ongoing concerns for the safety and well-being of people in the Direct Provision system during the COVID-19 pandemic. Sinéad Gibney, chief commissioner of the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission, w

Professor Steve Peers of the University of Essex discusses the 'Dublin system' for asylum applications between EU states and the legal issues of the Channel crossings. One key feature of the debate on Channel crossings is the impact of the EU’s ‘Dublin system’, allocating responsib

Amnesty International has warned that plans to deploy the Navy to prevent asylum seekers crossing the English Channel would be "unlawful, reckless and dangerous". Home Secretary Priti Patel has tasked Dan O'Mahoney, director of the joint maritime security centre and a former Royal Marine, with preve

The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) has announced that it will re-commence hearing appeals at its Dublin premises from Thursday. The tribunal has published an updated administrative practice note which sets out its plans for hearings at its Hanover Street premises. Some hearings wil

Asylum seekers' right to work is being undermined because they are denied access to driving licenses, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) has said. The rights watchdog made the remarks following a Dublin Circuit Court ruling which confirmed that a single mother living in a rural D

Alan Desmond, law lecturer at the University of Leicester, considers whether African-Americans could come to Ireland as refugees. Recent months have seen a growing international focus on use of excessive force against African-Americans by police in the US. The killing of George Floyd, in particular,

Two people who came to Ireland as refugees but were subsequently naturalised as Irish citizens were unlawfully denied access to the family reunification scheme, the Supreme Court has found in a landmark ruling. The judgment in the joint test cases of MAM v. The Minister for Justice and Equality and

Asylum seekers continue to face major barriers to entering employment more than three years after a landmark Supreme Court ruling on the right to work, the Irish Refugee Council has said. The absolute prohibition on employment for asylum seekers was found to be unconstitutional by Ireland's top cour

Justice Minister Charlie Flanagan has apologised to locals for the way in which the Direct Provision centre at the Skellig Star hotel in Cahersiveen was opened. Nearly 70 people seeking international protection were moved to the centre on 18 and 19 March from a hotel in Dublin where another guest su

The International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) has more than tripled its output of decisions in two years, according to its latest annual report. Chairperson Hilkka Becker said last year "could be considered the tribunal’s first year of reaching full operational capacity with the tribuna

The State is required by law to provide single or household occupancy accommodation to ensure social distancing and to limit the spread of COVID-19, according to legal advice obtained by the Irish Refugee Council (IRC). The legal opinion by Michael Lynn SC and Cillian Bracken BL states that positive

The coronavirus pandemic has highlighted how "unsuitable and unsustainable" accommodation for asylum seekers in Ireland is, the Ombudsman has said. In his annual commentary on the Direct Provision system, Ombudsman Peter Tyndall repeated concerns over the suitability of accommodation, with three or

Poland, Hungary and Czechia broke EU law by refusing to comply with mandatory quotas for relocating asylum seekers, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has ruled. The three EU member states can rely neither on their responsibilities concerning the maintenance of law and order and the s