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Court of Appeal allows appeal and overturns decision of the High Court declining to grant the appellant certiorari of a decision to quash a decision of the respondent refusing the appellant a certificate of naturalisation on the basis that the appellant was not “of good character” because he had committed certain offences under road traffic legislation, and orders that the appellant’s application for a certificate be remitted to the respondent for reconsideration in accordance with the terms of the judgment, on the grounds that: (a) the Court was not satisfied that as a matter of probability that the decision maker had considered all information or material relevant to the nature of the offences; (b) the trial judge erred in finding that there was “no reason to believe” that the complete application file including submissions made by or on behalf of the appellant were not considered by the respondent; (c) given that the court formed the view that the decision maker did not consider all relevant material, it follows that the reason given based on the “nature of the offences” cannot be upheld; and (d) the decision of the respondent should be quashed because the respondent failed in all the circumstances to give reasons and in particular failed to express his rationale for deciding that the “nature of the offences” meant that the appellant was not a person of “good character”.
Haughton J (nem diss): Appeal of decision of the High Court declining to grant the appellant certiorari of a decision to quash a decision of the respondent refusing the appellant a certificate of naturalisation on the basis that the appellant was not “of good character” because he had committed certain offences under the Road Traffic Acts - the appellant is a Kosovan national who entered the state lawfully in 2002 aged approximately fourteen years - he is married to a Kosovan and has two Irish born children - the appellant was found guilty of two offences under the Road Traffic Acts - the appellant applied for naturalisation on 2 July 2013 and on his form he said that never committed an offence against the laws of Ireland or an overseas county - solicitors for the appellant and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service engaged in correspondence in relation to this in which an explanation of the offences was provided - the certificate of naturalisation was refused on the basis the appellant was not of good character due to the nature of the offences - Irish Nationality and Citizenship Act, 1956 - whether the trial judge erred in finding that the Minister considered the explanations for the offences/charges given in the appellant’s solicitors correspondence with INIS - whether the impugned decision satisfied the obligation on the respondent to give reasons - appeal allowed - decision quashed and remitted back to the respondent for reconsideration.
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