Irish High Court judgment [01.08.2024]

Date: 1 August 2024

Jurisdiction: Irish High Court

Articles: Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union and Directive 2013/33/EU (Reception Conditions Directive).

Subject:

The Applicant, a 17-year-old, who was forced to leave his home and life in Afghanistan due to threats from the Taliban. When he sought international protection in Ireland, he was told that there was no accommodation available, and was instead provided with a 25-euro Dunnes voucher. This left him in a situation of street homelessness, and the ensuing degradations, including cold, rain, hunger, fear, danger, and theft of personal belongings, for three weeks. The applicant is one of thousands os protection applicants who have not been offered accommodation since 24th January 2024.

The Irish Refugee Council Independent Law Centre represented the Applicant.

The judgement:

The High Court today ruled that the state's failure to provide a newly arrived applicant for international protection with accommodation, food and basic hygiene facilities was unlawful and breached the applicant's right to dignity under the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

264. Applicants for international protection in the State have a well-established fundamental right to have their human dignity respected and protected, including by being provided with an adequate standard of living which guarantees their subsistence and protects their physical and mental health where they do not have sufficient means to provide for themselves.

265. The court is satisfied that the current State response to the needs of IP applicants who are acknowledged to be without accommodation is inadequate to the point that the rights of the class of person concerned in these proceedings under Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union have been breached by the State. As noted by the CJEU in clear and unequivocal terms in Saciri and Haqbin, a failure to provide for the basic needs of applicants amounts to a breach of their right to human dignity.

266. In the premises the court will grant a declaration in the following terms: “A declaration that the respondents’ failure to provide for the basic needs of newly arrived international protection applicants between 4 December 2023 and 10 May 2024, whether by way of the provision of accommodation, shelter, food and basic hygiene facilities or otherwise, is in breach of that class of persons rights pursuant to Article 1 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.”