Facts:
The applicant applied for asylum in Ireland. Having investigated her application, the Refugee Applications Commissioner recommended that she be refused refugee status. She challenged this by way of judicial review and also appealed to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, which affirmed the recommendation before the judicial review proceedings came on for hearing. The court was asked to rule on a preliminary issue raised by the Commissioner as to whether or not the proceedings were moot in the light of the Supreme Court’s decision in MARA v. Refugee Applications Commissioner [2014] IESC 71. It held that they were.
Reasoning:
The High Court held that, in line with the decision in MARA, once a decision on an appeal had issued, it rendered moot any judicial review of a recommendation of the Commissioner. It did not accept that the fact that the applicant in the instant case only had an appeal on the papers to the Tribunal, unlike the applicant in MARA, was a sufficient basis for not following MARA.
Decision:
The court held that the proceedings were moot.
