The Movement of Asylum Seekers in Ireland (MASI) has voiced its shock that controversial barrister Una McGurk upheld a recent ruling to deny a bisexual man’s asylum application. McGurk spoke alongside members of the Irish Freedom Party (IFP) at an anti-mask rally last year. In recent months she’s also claimed that “globalists and technocrats” are trying to usher in a one-world government.
A “disgraceful” decision
In its original ruling, the International Protection Office (IPO) claimed the Nigerian man’s “discovery of his sexual orientation lacks detail and specificity reasonably expected of someone who is gay”. It therefore denied his application. Commenting on the decision last week, MASI called the IPO’s ruling both “irrational and bigoted”.
But MASI has since learned of McGurk’s involvement in the decision-making process as a member of the International Protection Appeals Tribunal (IPAT).
In a statement MASI posted on its website, it called McGurk’s role in the verdict “disgraceful”. Going on, MASI wrote it was “shocked to learn that Ms Una McGurk SC is the tribunal member who upheld” the IPO’s ruling. It also insisted that the Department of Justice must order a review of McGurk’s decisions as a member of the IPAT.
Anti-mask and globalist conspiracies
MASI had previously called for McGurk’s removal from the IPO due to her public support for the IFP. She also she spoke alongside members of the IFP at an anti-mask rally in Dublin last year. Given this, MASI wrote that it’s “disgraceful that the Minister for Justice has not removed Ms Una McGurk from the tribunal and ordered a review of her decisions”.
During the far-right rally in August last year, McGurk claimed the risk of COVID-19 was overstated. She went on to argue the lockdowns were part of an agenda involving the “gradual erosion of our civil liberties”. And she insisted that the wearing of masks “has everything to do with testing how compliant you are”.
McGurk also made controversial claims during a livestream in December. She told viewers that “globalists and technocrats” are trying to introduce a “transhumanist agenda”. And that they’re trying to cause an “economic reset” which will result in “a one-world government where we will all be controlled and corralled”.
During the same livestream McGurk criticised the introduction of hate speech laws in Ireland. The barrister drew a comparison with the movie Minority Report, saying “you just think about a crime and you’ll be arrested”.
In relation to these comments a spokesperson for MASI previously told The Beacon:
Ms McGurk has brought the tribunal into disrepute and shouldn’t be entrusted with life and death decisions for asylum seekers in IPAT, and other vulnerable people in the mental health tribunal she also serves in.
McGurk’s tenure on the IPAT is expected to end this month.
Featured image via Screenshot
