Duty To Give Reasons For Administrative Decisions

Mallak v. Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform [2012] IESC 59; (Supreme Court, 6 December 2012, Fennelly J delivering judgment for the Court)

On 6 December 2012, the Supreme Court reversed the decision of Cooke J in the High Court and quashed a decision of the Minister for Justice refusing to grant the Applicant a certificate of naturalisation, due to the failure of the Respondent Minister to give reasons for his decision. The decision of the Supreme Court is a ground‐breaking one in circumstances where numerous previous decisions of the High Court on the issue had found that the Minister for Justice was not obliged to provide reasons to explain decisions in relation to the grant or refusal of certificates of naturalisation, in spite of the fact that the only successful challenges to such decisions on judicial review had occurred where reasons had been provided (Abuissa v. Minister for Justice [2011] 1 IR 123; Mallak v. Minister for Justice [2011] IEHC 306; Pok Sun Shum v. Ireland [1986] ILRM 593). Furthermore, while the Supreme Court did not go so far as to state that there exists a general duty on administrative decision makers to disclose the reasons for decisions affecting the rights and obligations of individuals, in delivering judgment for the Court, Fennelly J made a number of compelling statements that provide strong endorsement for the existence of such a duty in virtually all cases.

The Applicant in this case was a Syrian national, who had arrived in Ireland with his wife in 2002. Both had applied for, and were granted, refugee status in November 2002 and had...