According to the summary provided by the EUAA Courts and Tribunals Network: 

"The applicant was an Albanian national who claimed to be at risk of persecution in Albania due to a blood feud. The International Protection Office rejected the credibility of the claim and made a finding that the applicant was from a safe country of origin. A notice of appeal was submitted to the Tribunal requesting an oral hearing but no reasons were given as to its necessity. The Tribunal determined the appeal on the evidence without further correspondence with the applicant. The applicant submitted that the decision of the Court in SK v IPAT [2021] IEHC 781 mandated the Tribunal to engage with the applicant on the issue of the oral hearing in advance of making a determination of the substantive claim.

The Court rejected this interpretation of SK and indicated that SK should be confined to its own facts. The Court noted that it had not considered the contents of the Tribunal’s practice note on papers appeals such that the default position is not that there will be no communication from the Tribunal if it determines to decide the appeal on the papers.

The Court found that the Tribunal was not required by section 43(b) of the 2015 to engage with the issue of whether to have an oral hearing in the circumstances of the case where the notice of appeal did not provide any reasons for having an oral hearing. Certiorari refused"