Two groups of Romanian nationals were separately granted leave to apply for judicial review of their deportation orders. They contended that their deportations would infringe their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights. In both cases the High Court held that the Convention was not part of Irish domestic law and that the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform was not obliged to take account of it.
The Supreme Court upheld the decisions of the High Court and rejected the suggestion that when considering the applications for asylum the respondents were obliged to take into account the Convention and found that general evidence of human rights abuses in a country is not in itself enough to prevent individuals being repatriated to that country and that in order to be granted asylum an individual must show evidence that he or she is personally at risk of persecution.
