The applicant’s husband, who had been granted refugee status, had been due to give evidence at the applicant’s oral hearing before the Refugee Appeals Tribunal. The applicant’s husband could not attend due to illness and the Tribunal did not grant an adjournment until such time as the witness might be available. The Tribunal’s decision, which upheld the Commissioner’s negative recommendation, did not issue until in excess of fifteen months after the hearing and it did not appear that the Tribunal member considered country of origin information in the interim. The applicant sought to quash the Tribunal’s decision by way of judicial review.
The High Court granted leave to seek judicial review, finding, inter alia, that the Tribunal Member to whom the appeal was assigned had an obligation to determine the appeal within a reasonable time and that when giving a determination in excess of three months later was obliged to reconsider up-to-date country of origin information.
