This submission covers Head 9 of the Civil Reform Bill.
The Irish Refugee Council recommend, for the reasons given in this submission, that Head 9 (jurisdiction) of the Civil Reform Bill, which would move immigration-related judicial review from the High Court to the Circuit Court, be deleted and not brought forward to the Bill itself. If this Head is progressed, we recommend deleting Head 10 s13 (a) which would give the power to the President of the Circuit Court to County Registrars.
Our arguments, in summary, are that the transfer of such cases would:
- Be constitutionally dubious:
- Create a two-tier system where migrants are subject to a different and worse form of remedy against State wrongdoing; this is discriminatory.
- Compound the existing higher standards for judicial review for immigration cases.
- Ignore the high rate of grants of leave to bring judicial review proceedings by the High Court.
- Threaten to overwhelm the Circuit Court, leaving it unable to handle administration and number of cases.
- Threaten to cut access to declarations of incompatibility with ECHR.
- Judicial review is a crucial remedy and a fundamental process whereby someone who has suffered harm because of an ultra vires action of a public body may seek a remedy to vindicate their rights. As held in Meadow v Minister for Justice1 : “the purpose of judicial review is to provide a remedy to persons who claim their rights have been prejudiced by an administrative decision which has not been taken in accordance with the law, or the principles of constitutional justice.”
- Changing the jurisdiction of immigration-related judicial reviews to the Circuit Court, is in the view of the Irish Refugee Council, an attempt to limit the ability of migrants to vindicate infringements of their rights.
- If Head 9 is progressed it is strongly recommended that the power to pass judicial review leave applications to County Registrars is not progressed. A County Registrar is not a judge and would be completely inappropriate to ask them to consider judicial review.
- The Irish Refugee Council welcomes the submissions of Community Law & Mediation and the Bar Council and endorses their recommendations regarding Head 9.