An advisor to the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has issued a legal opinion stating that Ireland cannot use housing shortages as a justification for failing to accommodate single male asylum seekers.
The opinion, published Thursday by the Luxembourg-based court, indicates that Ireland “cannot use force majeure to justify failure to provide basic needs for international protection applicants.” It further states that even during “a large influx of people” applying for asylum, “member states cannot invoke force majeure to avoid responsibility for providing adequate reception conditions or compensating for harm caused.”
This development challenges a key argument used by the Irish government in an ongoing legal dispute. The Department of Children is currently appealing a High Court ruling from August that found the state in breach of fundamental rights by failing to provide accommodation to single male asylum seekers.
The case was brought by the Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission following the department’s December 2023 decision to stop housing single male adults seeking asylum. Instead, these applicants were provided a weekly allowance of โฌ113.80 along with information about charities offering food and tents.
Since implementing this policy, 8,017 men have applied for asylum in Ireland. While over 5,000 have since received accommodation, 3,150 international protection applicants remained “awaiting offer of accommodation” as of Tuesday.
The question of whether force majeureโabnormal circumstances outside a state’s control whose consequences couldn’t be avoided despite due careโcould be invoked as a defense was referred to the ECJ by Ireland’s High Court last year.
ECJ Advocate General Laila Medina, who examined the issue, stated in her opinion that there is “a clear and unequivocal obligation on member states to provide applicants with adequate material reception conditions, including housing.” She emphasized this obligation “is not conditional on the scale of the influx of applicants; rather, it is an absolute requirement that must be met, regardless of the challenges faced by the member state.”
Medina further noted, “A large influx of applicants for international protection cannot, in itself, serve as a stand-alone defense of force majeure.” While member states have “some discretion in how they manage such influxes,” this is limited to “the modalities by which the basic reception conditions are provided” and does not extend to “derogating from the fundamental obligation to ensure that applicants’ human dignity is respected.”
Though not binding, the Advocate General’s opinion is likely to inform the final ECJ ruling.
The Irish Refugee Council welcomed the opinion, saying it underlined that “Ireland cannot avoid its obligations under EU law to provide for basic accommodation and means of subsistence for international protection applicants.”
The Irish Human Rights and Equality Commission described the opinion as “important” as it stated the provision of accommodation was “an absolute requirement that must be met, regardless of the challenges faced by the member state.”
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