I must inform the Deputy that any international protection applicant who receives an adverse determination or decision from one of the State’s international protection determining bodies may apply to the High Court for a judicial review of that determination or decision within a specified period of time.
The same position applied to determinations or decisions made in 2002 by the refugee status determining bodies of that time i.e. the Office of the Refugee Applications Commissioner and the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. Where a determination or decision was not challenged within the specified timeframe then it remains valid in law and can no longer be challenged, some 17 and a half years later. As a result, I see no basis for having any such decision revisited at this point in time.
The Deputy might also wish to note that it is open to any person refused a declaration as a refugee to make an application under s.22 of the International Protection Act 2015 for the consent of the Minister to make a subsequent application. Any such application would, however, need to be founded on new elements or findings which have arisen which make it significantly more likely that the relevant person will qualify for international protection and the relevant person was, through no fault of their own, incapable of presenting those elements or findings for the purposes of his or her previous application.
