The Commission was grant liberty to appear in these appeals as amicus curiae.
The test cases ‘MAM’ and ‘KN’, which are being heard jointly, involve significant human rights issues. In both, the Minister for Justice and Equality refused applications for family reunification from individuals who had been granted refugee status under the Refugee Act 1996 and subsequently naturalised as Irish citizens, saying that they were no longer entitled to “refugee” family reunification since becoming Irish citizens.
The Commission’s legal submissions to the Court of Appeal focus on two issues: First, whether the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) or the Irish Constitution confer a right to family reunification on refugees and if so, second, what effect that right would have on the interpretation of Ireland’s Refugee Act 1996.