Unaccommodated asylum seekers are forced to make an “unacceptable choice” between food, clothing or hygiene due to the failure of the State to meet its obligations to them, the High Court has found.
In a judgment handed down on Thursday, Mr Justice Barry O’Donnell found the State is failing to provide for the basic needs of homeless international protection (IP) applicants and is breaching their fundamental rights.
On foot of the judgment, the Government faced calls from the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to take “immediate” action to offer accommodation to more than 2,300 unaccommodated IP applicants.
However, there was little sign that the judgment would prompt a rapid overhaul in Government policy. Senior Coalition figures indicated no immediate changes were likely. In a statement, the Department of Integration said it was “considering the judgment provided today”.
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“It would not be appropriate to comment further at this time, as matters are outstanding before the courts.”
Following evidence from accommodated applicants, the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission (IHREC) and non-governmental organisations, the court accepted that without their basic needs met in housing and hygiene, the asylum seekers are “left in a deeply vulnerable and frightening position that undermines their human dignity”.
Despite the findings in favour of the IHREC, which took the case, the High Court refused its request to mandate the implementation of a system that vindicates the fundamental rights of all asylum seekers, finding that there was no basis for concluding the State “will ignore its obligations”.
The judge accepted the State is making “strenuous efforts to redress the situation” and noted it altered its approach after a previous High Court judgment finding it was in breach.
He found, however, that an enhanced weekly expenses allowance payment of €75 instituted following that previous judgment — which brought the total payment to €113.80 — was not adequate to allow applicants to access basic housing and that the State had not provided any analysis of the “real-world purchasing power” of that sum or “how in fact an ... applicant was expected to access the basic need of housing”.
Welcoming the ruling, the UNHCR called on the Government to “take immediate action to provide accommodation to all asylum seekers”. Irish Refugee Council chief executive Nick Henderson said the decision was “extremely important”, arguing that the Government must “implement the necessary changes to restore the dignity of those affected”.
The court found the State had provided “no coherent or satisfactory answer” to the question of where an applicant could be expected to house themselves if they could not buy accommodation.
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.
The court also found that the IHREC had proved that the current range of services for unaccommodated applicants is “not adequate to provide properly for their basic needs of housing, food, clothing and hygiene”.
IHREC head of legal Michael O’Neill said: “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.”
The agency’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 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.
The IHREC contended the €113.80 weekly allowance was still insufficient as it is not enough to enable the men to source their own shelter.
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