The State’s failure to provide for the basic needs of homeless international protection applicants is a breach of their fundamental rights, the High Court has ruled in a case brought by Ireland’s human rights watchdog.
Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell on Thursday said he was satisfied the current State response to the needs of unaccommodated asylum seekers is “inadequate” to the point that it breaches the men’s right to human dignity as set out in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU.
International Protection Applicants have a “well-established fundamental right to have their human dignity respected and protected”, including by receiving an adequate living standard that guarantees their subsistence and protects their health, the judge said.
Challenging the lack of accommodation for many adult male applicants, the State-funded Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) for the first time invoked its powers under article 41 of the 2014 IHREC Act to bring representative proceedings concerning others’ human rights.
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The State has twice announced since early last year that despite “intensive efforts” to source emergency places, it could not provide shelter to all newly arrived men amid “unprecedented pressure” on services. Children, families and women are prioritised, along with vulnerable men.
The Department of Integration says there are currently 2,352 applicants awaiting an accommodation offer.
IHREC’s case, heard last May, followed on from a High Court decision delivered in April of last year which found the Minister for Integration breached his obligations to accommodate an Afghan asylum seeker who had to resort to begging after arriving in the State.
In that challenge, the court said providing a €28 Dunnes Stores voucher and the addresses of private charities “does not come close to what is required”.
In response, the State raised the weekly expenses payment to those left homeless by €75 and put in place formal arrangements with charities to provide homeless International Protection Applicants with food and hygiene facilities.
IHREC contended the €113.80 weekly allowance was still insufficient as it is not enough to enable the men to source their own shelter. Its senior counsel Eoin McCullough, with Patricia Brazil SC, submitted a lack of resources could not be relied upon, as the State’s duty is “legally binding” and “not one of best efforts”.
The Minister, the Attorney General and Ireland argued that the changes brought the State into line with its obligations to provide what EU law describes as “material reception conditions”. A department official told the court the situation is more challenging due to significant community pushback to the opening of new accommodation centres, particularly where they are to house single male applicants.
In Thursday’s ruling, Mr Justice O’Donnell refused a request by IHREC for an order mandating the State to implement a system that vindicates the fundamental rights of all asylum seekers. This was because he was not satisfied there is a basis for concluding the State “will ignore its obligations”.
He accepted the State is making “strenuous efforts to redress the situation” and noted it altered its approach after the previous High Court judgment finding it was in breach. While the steps implemented were not sufficient, they demonstrate that the State “did not intend to ignore the court orders”.
The judge said he considered affidavits sworn by international protection applicants in support of the commission’s case. They recount having to sleep rough, use toilet facilities in restaurants and cafes and being unable to afford hostels.
The judge said they outline “enormous difficulties” surviving on the financial support given, while one applicant had difficulty accessing medication and treatment for epilepsy.
He accepted this and other evidence from the commission established that the consequences of being unable to access basic needs, particularly housing and hygiene services, is that the men are left in a “deeply vulnerable and frightening position that undermines their human dignity”.
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