Extra Judges To Tackle Asylum Case Backlog

Five High Court judges will now be dedicated full-time to hearing the mounting appeals and legal challenges from next week — a big increase on the lone judge who has been handling the vast workload.

The move came after a special call-over of the list in the High Court revealed 780 cases were awaiting hearing while an additional 17 new cases were joining the list each week.

Only 240 cases were assigned hearing dates in the new legal term, which begins next Monday, while the rest had to be referred to the next term, beginning in late April, without any indication of when they might be heard.

Ms Justice Mary Finlay Geoghegan has been the only judge hearing cases full-time, although she had occasional assistance in recent months. The Courts Service said from the start of the new term, assistance in the form of four other High Court judges would be assigned on a dedicated basis.

Immigrant support groups have called for extra resources, pleading that cases — usually challenges to deportation orders or decisions of the Refugee Applications Commissioner — routinely take 18 months to get a hearing and, where a judicial review is involved, a further year to get a judgment.

Kevin Brophy, a solicitor involved in immigration cases, including that of Great Agbonlahor, the seven-year-old autistic Nigerian boy deported with his mother and sister in 2007, had voiced concerns about the delays and urged the appointment of an extra judge.

He said he was surprised at the decision to increase resources fivefold and had some doubts as to whether it could be sustained.

“I would view it as a tremendously positive step but I’d like to see it work in practice.”
Asylum applications have fallen in recent years but still ran at an average of 318 per month last year and almost 7,000 asylum seekers are in direct provision accommodation which in 2007 cost the State €83 million.

While other forms of immigration have also dropped, many immigrants with legal residency here are fighting for similar rights for family members still abroad. – uk.blog.360.yahoo.com