The claimant in this case, a barrister, was first temporarily appointed as Chair of the Refugee Appeals Tribunal (R.A.T) in December 2003 and this appointment was to cover the period up to the filling of the post by open competition. He applied for that competition and was appointed to the post under a five year fixed-term contract up to September 2010. 

Towards the end of this term, he expressed an interest in being re-appointed and wrote to the Department of Justice in this regard. Because a new body to be called the Protection Review Tribunal was envisaged at the time to replace the R.A.T, the Secretary General of the Department in reply offered to continue the claimant in his