Mr. Brian Collins:

The Irish Refugee Council and LGBT Ireland compiled a report on sexual orientation recently. It is entitled Believe Me or Not But I Am Who I Am: Experiences of LGBTI+ Asylum Seekers Proving Credibility in the Irish International Protection Process. It would probably be worth having a look at it, because its contents come from the lived experience of people in the process. In short, though, we have definitely come across cases where a claim has been refused based on negative credibility findings around sexual orientation. I do not know if this approach is used systematically, but a barrister in the UK has developed a model of credibility assessment, the difference, shame, stigma, harm, DSSH, model, and this has been endorsed in the UNHCR guidelines on the assessment of sexual orientation and gender identity cases. The variety of questions will depend on the individual decision-maker, but I have certainly come across questions around what people's music tastes are and this kind of thing. There was also the case where someone from the Middle East was asked why he did not have contact with his mother, and she had said she would prefer if he was dead rather than being gay. These are the kinds of things I am talking about. It is obviously complicated to assess it, but there is a case from the Court of Justice which states there is an entitlement to do a credibility assessment and to take into account stereotypes, as long as this is not the sole basis of the assessment. I can, however, look into the specifics and email the information on later.