Judicial review cases by asylum seekers against the State triple in three years

Ken Foxe

There has been an explosion in the number of judicial reviews taken against the state by asylum seekers, many of them fighting decisions that could lead to deportation.

The number of cases has tripled in the space of three years, while legal costs, mostly paid to the legal teams of international protection applicants, have multiplied by a factor of six.

Figures from the Department of Justice show there were 175 judicial reviews taken last year in asylum cases.

That was up from just 57 in 2023 and 82 in 2024 as the department has ramped up decision making and deportation operations.

Costs involved have also risen sharply with the department spending €2.4 million on judicial review cases last year.

That rose from just €388,760 in 2023 and €1.8 million in 2024 but provides only a partial picture of spending on asylum law.

The Department of Justice said 95 per cent of these costs were paid by the State Claims Agency to the legal representatives of applicants who were successful.

The department’s own legal costs are paid directly by the Chief State Solicitor’s Office and were not included in the data, which was released under FOI.

An information note said: “There has been an increase in legal costs for a range of reasons including a higher number of [international protection] applications and decisions, complexity of decision making, volume of litigation, compliance with court judgments and increased settlement costs.”

A total of 275 cases involving international protection have been decided during the past three years.

Of those, one case was dismissed and in six cases, the applicant was successful.

There were nine cases where the Minister for Justice successfully defended a decision and 52 judicial reviews that were withdrawn.

A further 44 cases were struck out with no order for costs while 41 cases were struck out with an order for the asylum seeker’s costs to be paid.

The largest number of cases – 109 in total – were listed as “settled post leave” while 13 were categorised as “settled pre leave.”

The department said regardless of outcome, all court proceedings fed into policy to reduce risk while respecting the rights of international protection applicants.

“In addition, the Department has increased in-house legal expertise to provide on-demand advice to decision makers and advice on cases of concern,” an information note said.

“A dedicated legal helpdesk provides decision makers with structured access to legal expertise.”

The possible rise in court proceedings in the international protection system had been flagged by the Department of Justice ahead of last year’s budget.

In discussions, the International Protection Office (IPO) said “exceptionally high levels of litigation” could be expected as they dramatically sped up the time it takes to deal with applications for refugee status.

The IPO said the higher number of negative decisions and deportations would inevitably lead to a surge in judicial reviews.