The Commission appeared before the Supreme Court as amicus curiae (‘friend of the court’) on 15 February 2022 in this important citizenship and children’s rights case.
The case focuses on ‘UM’ who was born in Ireland and asserted Irish citizenship on the basis of his Afghan father’s residency in the country, as a refugee, prior to his birth. His father was granted refugee status in 2006. However the Department of Justice informed the father in August 2013 that the Minister was revoking his refugee status due to fraud.
UM, who was born before the revocation of his father’s refugee status, had his Irish passport application refused two years later on the basis that any residence derived from his father’s refugee grant could not be relied on for the purposes of UM’s assertion of citizenship.
The Supreme Court heard the case as it raised significant questions of the impact of retrospective application of a decision to revoke refugee status, and the impact of that decision on a child who is a citizen by birth, not having an Irish parent.
NOTE: These submissions are redacted to protect the identity of the minor involved.