Court rules in favour of Refugee Appeals Tribunal chief

A MAJORITY finding of the Supreme Court yesterday held that the Refugee Appeals Tribunal chairperson had validly reassigned appeals by two non-nationals because the original appeals’ officer allegedly delayed giving decisions.

One judge said that from the point of view of the two refugees, what happened to them “must be bewildering in the extreme”. Both asylum seekers were refused asylum status and their appeals came before a member of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, but they heard nothing until they got letters advising of the purported reassignment of their cases to another member of the tribunal.

Mr Justice Fennelly, giving the majority decision of the court of three (Chief Justice John Murray agreed) said the particular tribunal member heard a considerable number of other refugee appeals without pronouncing decisions on them. This led to concern on the part of the Refugee Legal Service and, in turn, the chairperson of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal.