State allowed to appeal decision finding UK 'safe third country' designation is unlawful

Since the ruling last March, the Cabinet has approved emergency legislation aimed at recommencing UK transfers of people who came to the State via Northern Ireland

The applicants — an Iraqi man of Kurdish origin and a Nigerian man — had centred their cases on a claim that returning them to the UK exposed them to significant risk of harm as, they said, there was a possibility they would be sent on to Rwanda under a policy of Rishi Sunak’s government.

The State has secured permission to appeal a High Court decision that concluded Ireland’s system for returning international protection applicants to the UK was unlawful.

Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan last March ruled that there are safeguarding deficiencies in the Irish law underpinning Minister for Justice Helen McEntee’s designation of the UK as a “safe third country”, which had facilitated returns.