Dublin: A Tibetan monk has brought a legal challenge before the High Court against the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT) and the Minister for Justice, after his application for asylum in Ireland was refused.
The monk appeared before, Mr. Justice Siobhán Phelan yesterday morning. The case has been adjourned until next week for a full hearing.
According to court documents, the petitioner left Tibet in April 2016 and lived in Nepal until September 2024, before arriving in Ireland in October 2024, where he sought international protection. His application for asylum was rejected in January 2025, prompting him to appeal to IPAT.
However, the appeal was dismissed on procedural grounds, as it had been submitted outside the 15-day deadline stipulated under asylum law. The appeal was not filed until April, more than two months after the deadline had expired.
The monk’s legal team argues that exceptional circumstances prevented the timely filing of the appeal and that the tribunal should have exercised its discretion to extend the deadline.
In his petition, the monk claims he fled China for political reasons, asserting that as a Tibetan Buddhist monk, he is a symbol of Tibetan religion and culture and would face persecution if returned.
His lawyers explained that the delay was caused by extraordinary circumstances, including the bombing of a legal team member’s home in Sudan, which resulted in the death of a family member. The team member was compelled to travel there due to the emergency, causing disruption to the case preparation and filing process.
Irish Samachar English News