The High Court has given the Minister for Justice permission to cross-examine a Pakistani national about evidence underpinning his challenge to a deportation order.
Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan ruled on July 23 that Z.M. may be questioned on three specific matters: his claimed confusion about a 2021 statutory notice, his assertion that he might have left Ireland voluntarily if the options had been clearly stated, and his claim that he sought legal advice at the time but was told he could not challenge the notice.
Z.M. arrived in Ireland on a student visa in August 2018. After his student permission expired, he received notice in September 2021 that the Minister was considering deportation. A deportation order was served on him in June 2023 and he began judicial review proceedings the following month.
His challenge includes an attack on wording in the 2021 notice which said that, except in very exceptional circumstances, a deportation order would not be made if he voluntarily left the State. He argues that the notice was unlawful and that its wording prevented him from making an informed decision about leaving.
The Minister disputes that account and says the proceedings were prompted by a later successful challenge brought by another person. The Minister also argues that the challenge to the 2021 notice was brought far outside the applicable time limit.
Ms Justice Phelan found there were objective matters capable of casting doubt on Z.M.'s evidence, including the absence of contemporaneous complaints about the notice, his submissions seeking permission to remain and the lack of corroborating material showing that legal advice was obtained at the time.
The ruling does not decide whether Z.M.'s evidence is true, whether time should be extended, or whether the deportation order or earlier notice is unlawful. It permits limited cross-examination because those factual questions could materially affect the later substantive hearing.