The applicant applied for asylum in Ireland after previously applying for asylum in the Netherlands. Ireland applied to the Netherlands to take the applicant back under Article 16(1)(c) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 343/2003 (the Dublin Regulation). The Netherlands agreed to take the applicant back under Article 16(1)(e) of the Regulation and the Refugee Applications Commissioner decided that the applicant ought to be transferred to the Netherlands.
The applicant appealed this decision to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which found that the Netherlands was the Member State responsible under Article 16(1)(e) in conjunction with Article 20(1) of the Regulation. The applicant’s challenge was based, inter alia, on the contention that the Tribunal’s decision was ultra vires S.I. No. 423 of 2003, Article 8(8) of which provides that in considering an appeal against a decision of the Commissioner to transfer an applicant, the Tribunal “shall have regard only to whether or not the Member State responsible for examination of the application has been properly established in accordance with the criteria set out in Chapter III of the Council Regulation”.
The Court held that the Tribunal’s decision was ultra vires because the Tribunal was restricted to considering Chapter III of the Regulation, which did not contain Articles 16 or 20
