Kosovan man wins appeal over refusal of citizenship on basis of character

A Kosovan man who came here legally as a teenager and now runs a takeaway restaurant business has won his appeal over being refused citizenship on the basis he was not of “good character” arising from having committed road traffic offences.

The Minister for Justice must reconsider the man’s application in line with the three judge Court of Appeal’s findings.

Giving the judgment on Tuesday, Mr Justice Robert Haughton said the man came here in 2002 aged 14 and later married another Kosovan with whom he has two Dublin-born children. He operates a takeaway restaurant, having previously been employed as a chef by an older brother.

In 2011, he paid a fine of € 380 for a speeding offence after claiming he had not received the relevant fixed penalty notice.

Later that year, he was convicted of driving without insurance and paid a fine of € 400 but was not disqualified and his licence was not endorsed.

The man had said he was driving one of his brother’s cars and believed he was covered by insurance as he routinely drove his brother’s cars. An insurance company said he was a named driver on a policy of his brother but he was not in fact insured on the car he was driving.

He applied for naturalisation in July 2013 and, in light of the 2011 road traffic matters, incorrectly answered “no” to questions concerning whether he had convictions.

When queried about this, his solicitors outlined his explanations and said he had paid fines concerning both matters. They described the first offence as a “routine speeding offence”. While the driving without insurance offence could potentially be viewed as “more serious”, they said that was due to a genuine mistake and it appeared the relevant District Court accepted the man’s explanation for how that occurred.

In a later response to an “interim Garda vetting report” dated May 2016 enclosed by the immigration service (INIS), the solicitors confirmed certain other charges including failure to produce a driving licence/learner permit, were struck out. The man had produced the relevant documents but for some reason that was not recorded at the relevant Garda station, they said.

The solicitors also asked that another “unfortunate episode” arising from the man’s brother having failed to renew an insurance policy due to an oversight, which was “immediately rectified”, should not negatively affect the man’s citizenship application.

In February 2018, the Minister, through the director general of his department, refused naturalisation because he was not satisfied of the man’s “good character”. The decision referred to an INIS submission concerning the application which referred to motoring offences and described the man as having “a history of non-compliance” with the laws of the State.

After the High Court dismissed the man’s challenge to the refusal, he appealed.

Allowing the appeal, Mr Justice Haughton said he was not satisfied the Minister, before refusing naturalisation, had considered and weighed all relevant considerations, including the man’s explanations for the motoring offences.

The High Court erred in finding there was “no reason to believe” the complete application file, including submissions made by or on behalf of the man, were considered by the Minister, he said.

The Court of Appeal was left with the impression the file presented to the director general, with the INIS submission and a Garda report on top, were the only documents and information considered before the decision was made, he said.

The refusal decision should also be quashed because the Minister failed in all the circumstances to give reasons for it, and in particular failed to express his rationale for deciding the “nature of the offences” meant the man was not of good character, he ruled.