LAW37600

Learning Outcomes:

The course aims to provide students with a solid understanding of how law (international, EU and domestic) determines migration status and refugeehood.

By the end of the course, diligent students should have attained:

1. A clear grasp of key legal concepts and theoretical debates around the key terms of migrant, labour migrant, refugee, international protection beneficiary, asylum-seeker, smuggling, trafficking, regular/ irregular; legal / illegal as applied in this context;
2. Familiarity with key scholarly debates on migration and refugee law;
3. Clear grasp of how international, EU and national law interact in this field;
4. A critical understanding of the differences between different legal forms of migration (e.g. for protection, for work etc);
5. A critical understanding of the role and limits of human rights law in the migration control context;
6. A critical understanding of how migration law creates distinct statuses with different rights, and the implications of this status differentiation for equality and inclusion;
7. A critical understanding of the role of access to nationality in both determining who is subject to migration controls, and who is entitled to stay indefinitely;
8. A critical understanding of how migration status generates risks to exploitation, abuse, inequality, and how the law responds to these risks;
9. An ability to engage in key legal and political debates on migration, asylum and international protection;
10. An ability to identify important research questions in this field, and identify salient sources for further reading and research.

Indicative Module Content:

This content is indicative of what this module will explore in 2025, and is subject to change due to legal developments.

The module commences with an introductory lecture on statehood, migration, migration control and migration status. The module then examines:

Theme One Labour Migration Law: We examine international human rights and migrant workers, as well as labour migration law in Ireland.

Theme Two Refugee and International Protection Law: We explore the legal rules that limit the entry of those seeking protection (visas and carrier sanctions at EU level in particular), the implications of the frequent ‘illegalization’ of refugee travel, how responsibility for protection claims is regulated (the ‘Dublin System’); and how EU and Irish law engage with the international legal concept of ‘refugee’ and other forms of international protection, including the adjudication of international protection.

Theme Three Intersections of Migration Law: We analyse discrete topics within the field of migration law, relating to human trafficking, migrant status in the welfare state, undocumented migration, and deportation.

The module concludes with an exploration of citizenship law in Ireland.

Student Effort Hours:

Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

This module is lecture based, with student engagement and interaction required throughout lectures.

Relevant readings -legislation, case-law, secondary sources- will be identified in lecture reading lists and/or PowerPoints. PowerPoints will be available to all students prior to each lecture. At relevant points of the module, students will be directed to reading, which must be completed prior to the lecture. This will assist in ensuring lecture based student discussion and analysis of key areas of legal controversy, and this will be an essential part of this course.

Approaches to teaching and learning will will include: reflective learning, case-law based learning and critical thinking approaches to Migration Law.

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module.
 

Assessment Strategy

 

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, post-assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Individual Feedback on Learning (Throughout the Semester): Should students require feedback on their learning for this module, then students are encouraged to self-assess their learning, and seek clarification by asking a question in-class and/or arranging an individual consultation. Group class feedback on the examination: Group feedback will be available on the examination and available to students once the University releases your final grade for this module, and the School of Law directs feedback be provided in June 2025. Individual feedback on the examination: After results are released, you will have an opportunity to receive individual feedback on your exam script. This will be available once grades are final. You will receive information on the process for obtaining individual feedback on your take home exam for this module in late June 2025, via Brightspace.

Various legislation including, International Protection Act 2015 (as amended), Employment Acts (as revised), EU Treaties/ Directives/Regulations, international legal instruments. 'Soft' law materials will also be engaged with.

Case law from Irish courts, Court of Justice of the European Union and the European Court of Human Rights will be prescribed reading, depending on the topic.

You will be referred to relevant secondary legal materials (books, book chapters, journal articles, blogs, reports etc.) as appropriate in the week-by-week reading lists. I will only be recommending materials that you can have ready access to either through UCD Library or freely available on-line (such as on academic institutional repositories).

Please note that there is no required text for purchase for this module. Reading and other materials will be available from UCD Library (online or offline).

In addition to the precise readings you may be referred to, the following is a select bibliography that may assist in furthering your understanding and knowledge of migration law.

Library Copy Only: Vincent Chetail, International Migration Law (OUP 2019).
E-Book: Cathryn Costello, Michelle Foster & Jane McAdam (eds) The Oxford Handbook of International Refugee Law (OUP 2022)
E-Book: Cathryn Costello, The Human Rights of Migrants and Refugees in European Law (OUP 2016).
E-Book: Anne T. Gallagher, The International Law of Human Trafficking (CUP 2010)
E-Book: James C. Hathaway and Michelle Foster, The Law of Refugee Status (2nd edn, OUP 2014).
Library Copies Only: John Stanley, Immigration and Citizenship Law (Roundhall 2017).
E-Book: Evangelia Tsourdi & Philippe de Bruycker (eds), Research Handbook on EU Migration and Asylum Law (E.E. Publishing 2022).

You should develop the practice of consulting the leading academic journals in the migration law field. You will be referred to articles within the reading list, but you should seek to augment these through your own research. This will keep you up to date with current developments. These journals can be accessed through UCD Library, and may include:

Journal of Refugee Studies
Journal of Migration and Refugee Issues
International Journal of Refugee Law
European Law Review
European Public Law
International and Comparative Law Quarterly.
Irish Jurist
Dublin University Law Journal

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.