The State must pay €9,500 and €6,000 to two male asylum seekers who were left homeless upon their arrival in the State three years ago, a High Court judge has ruled.
In a decision that will affect some 50 other claims, Judge Cian Ferriter held that the two men should be compensated for the State’s breach of its duties to them.
He said the damages were intended to be compensatory in nature and he did not see “anything in the conduct by the State” that would justify aggravated or punitive damages against it.
The test case applicants, an Afghan man and an Indian man, were given one-off €25 Dunnes Stores vouchers and assistance from charities in lieu of shelter.
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The judge awarded the Afghan national €9,500 on account of him having been street homeless for 71 days, while he gave the Indian national €6,000 for having spent 63 days sleeping rough.
He said the Afghan man (25) arrived in Ireland in February 2023 having fled after the Taliban militant group killed his sibling. He has since been granted international protection by the State and is in employment.
In assessing damages for him, the judge noted he was homeless during a “particularly cold and wet time of the year” and lived in a state of fear on the streets.
He said the man had a “particular physical and psychological vulnerability” over the 71-day period and found the experience “humiliating and distressing”.
The Indian man (22), who is a Christian, came to the State in March 2023 claiming he was persecuted in his home country due to his involvement in a relationship with a Muslim.
The judge noted the man found homelessness on Dublin’s Mount Street “cold, wet and frightening” and that he feared his tent would be set alight by people targeting international protection applicants.
He said the man often went hungry and experienced “very dark moments when he thought he could not go on”.
The judge said the State failed to provide the men with any meaningful financial support for portions of their street homelessness, so their basic needs were not met.
He recognised his judgment would likely have a “precedential value” on the appropriate level of damages for the 50 other cases, but he stressed each claim would depend on individual circumstances.
The cases are confined to the period from January 24th to June 9th, 2023, when many single adult male international protection applicants were left homeless.
The State opposed the claims, arguing its failure to provide accommodation arose from extraordinary circumstances stemming from the huge influx of refugees fleeing the war in Ukraine and the unexpectedly large increase in the number of other international protection applicants arriving in the same period.
The judge’s decision follows a ruling from the Court of Justice of the European Union last August confirming Ireland cannot evade its obligation to provide basic accommodation to asylum seekers by reason of a large number of arrivals.
The damages claims arose out of the High Court’s finding in April 2023 that the Government breached another Afghan national’s fundamental right to human dignity by failing to provide him with “material reception conditions”, including accommodation, shelter, food and basic hygiene.
According to the Department of Justice, there were 534 international protection applicants awaiting an offer of accommodation from the State as of the end of last month.
