The Supreme Court has ruled that a Russian woman's application for refugee status for her and her daughter was a matter for the United Kingdom, the first EU state she entered. The woman failed to win an order directing the Minister for Justice to consider her application for refugee status.
Ms Olga Anisimova challenged the failure of the Minister to consider her application before the Supreme Court which, in a judgment expected to have major implications for other refugees seeking political asylum in Ireland, found against her.
The State had argued that the Minister refused to examine the claim because the appropriate place to make that application was in the UK, the "first safe country" in which she arrived.
The Minister informed her that unless she returned voluntarily to the UK she and her daughter would be deported. The UK immigration authorities had undertaken to accept the woman and daughter's return and to process her application for asylum, the court was told.
It was also stated that Department of Justice officials had contacted the UN High Commissioner for Refugees who approved the Minister's decision to return the woman and child to the UK.
Delivering the Supreme Court judgment on Friday, Mr Justice Murphy said the Minister did not at any time undertake a substantive inquiry into Ms Anisimova's status as a refugee. But he did conduct a full and fair inquiry as to how she had travelled from her country of origin to Ireland via the UK.
These inquiries were fundamental to what was described as "the preliminary issue" in the application for asylum, Mr Justice Murphy said.
Ms Anisimova had lived in Moldova and arrived in London on February 21st, 1996 bearing a passport and a visa for entry to the UK for her and her daughter. The visa was granted at the British embassy in Kiev.
On her arrival at Heathrow Airport in London, Ms Anisimova and her daughter immediately went to Holyhead where they boarded a boat for Dublin. She had spent less than 24 hours on British soil. On arrival in Dublin she contacted the Irish Refugee Council and later applied for political asylum.
Mr Justice Murphy said the facts did not support the argument that the Minister failed to investigate "the preliminary issue".
While the Minister did not undertake a substantive inquiry into the woman's status as a refugee there was a full and fair inquirry as to how she had travelled from her country of origin to Ireland via the UK.