Irish state breaching human rights of homeless asylum seekers – High Court

The court made the ruling after the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) took a case against the State over its failure to provide adequate accommodation to people seeking asylum in Ireland.

Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell delivered the judgment on Thursday afternoon, saying the court found that the approach adopted by the State breached the human rights of the “relevant unaccommodated IP (International Protection) applicants”.

“By failing to meet their basic needs and leaving unaccommodated IP applicants without accommodation or the means to access accommodation, the State has breached the rights of those persons as provided for in Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” the judge said.

The IHREC asked the court to make declarations that the state has failed its obligations and is breaching applicants’ rights under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights.

On December 4 last year, the Government stated that it could no longer offer accommodation to men seeking international protection.

However, the court did not grant the mandatory orders sought by the IHREC.

“While the court is satisfied that declarations to that effect are warranted, the court will not grant the mandatory orders sought by the Commission,” Justice O’Donnell added.

“Very briefly, the court is not satisfied that there is a basis for concluding that the State will ignore its obligations.

“The State has made clear, and the court accepts, that it is making strenuous efforts to redress the situation.

“Moreover, in response to the decisions of the High Court in 2023, the State in fact altered its approach by taking steps to improve the provision for unaccommodated IP applicants.

“While those steps were not sufficient to avoid a breach of the rights of those applicants, it demonstrated that the State did not intend to ignore the court orders.

“In the premises, it is not appropriate for the court to take the very serious additional step of making mandatory orders to support the declaratory relief sought by the Commission.”

It was the first time that the Commission took legal action in its own name to defend the human rights of others.

The Commission sought orders to compel the State to fulfil its legal obligations to provide food, shelter and access to basic hygiene facilities to asylum seekers.

In its judgment, the court said that the State has raised the weekly payments to homeless IP applicants by 75 euro and has an arrangement with charities to provide those with food, hygiene facilities and health supports.

The Commission argued that increasing the weekly allowance to 113.80 euro for all eligible applicants was insufficient.

The State also argued that applicants are also provided with a 100 euro shopping voucher to cover the initial period before their weekly allowance is first received.

The Commission claimed that the new efforts by the State are “not effective” in addressing the core difficulties facing unaccommodated IP applicants.

The case was heard over three days in June.

In its judgment, the court said that it is satisfied that the financial assistance provided is not adequate to ensure that these IP applicants can access housing where it is not being provided directly by the State.

In a statement, the Commission welcomed the judgment.

Michael O’Neill, head of legal at the Commission, said: “The Commission welcomes this significant judgment.

“Not only has the Court clarified important points of law, but critically, it has recognised that the State’s failure to meet the basic needs of IP applicants has put them in a deeply vulnerable position where they cannot live in dignity and security.

“When we began these proceedings in December, 259 IPAs were unaccommodated by the State. That number now stands at 2,352.

“The Commission notes the expectation of the Court that the State will comply with its decision.”