Court ruling on asylum poses threat to hundreds of refugees

Hundreds of asylum-seekers who arrived here from another EU state could face deportation following a Supreme Court judgment which is being published today. The court decided on Friday that refugees arriving from outside the EU should have their application for asylum dealt with in the first EU state they enter.

The Department of Justice has been waiting for the judgment in this test case before moving to deport about 60 refugees who have been refused the right to apply for asylum.

But the ruling also makes it more likely that hundreds of immigrants who have been given the right to apply for asylum will have their applications refused because they came here through Britain or another EU state.

About 3,000 asylum-seekers are waiting to have their cases heard. At this stage, it is not known how many have passed through another EU state.

Legal sources said last night the decision established the principle of the "first safe haven", under which refugees have to make an application for asylum in the first EU state in which they land.

In the case, the court ruled against a Russian woman and her daughter who sought to have their asylum applications heard in Ireland. It unanimously upheld the decision of the High Court that they should make their applications in Britain.

Mrs Olga Anisimova and her daughter travelled to Ireland from Moscow last year. However, in order to come to Ireland she had to obtain an entry visa for the UK.

She told the High Court last week it was her intention at all times to come straight to Ireland. Although they spent less than 24 hours in Britain, the Irish authorities said her application would not be processed in the Republic because she had had the opportunity to apply in another EU state.

This has been the legal position since last September, when a new EU treaty came into effect.

The case is regarded as a test for about a dozen similar cases currently in the High Court. According to the Irish Refugee Council, up to 50 further cases, in which no judicial review has been sought, will also be affected by the judgment.

A spokesman for the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, said last night the Anisimovas would probably be given a few weeks to leave the State voluntarily. If they did not leave, they would be deported.