The High Court has quashed a decision to deport a Pakistani man after finding that the Minister for Justice materially misunderstood his employment prospects. The case was remitted to the Minister for fresh consideration; the court did not decide whether he should be allowed to remain in Ireland.
The man, identified in the judgment as A, arrived in Ireland from the United Kingdom in 2015. He applied for an EU residence card based on claimed dependency on an uncle, a UK national then living in Ireland. That application was refused, and related judicial review proceedings became moot after the uncle left Ireland.
In June 2017, the Minister notified A of an intention to make a deportation order and invited representations. The judgment says no representations were received within the specified time.
A later completed a Level 6 certificate course in milking at Ballyhaise Agricultural College in County Cavan. He received the certificate in January 2019 and was offered work as a dairy farm assistant. The judgment records that such workers were in short supply and that a permit scheme for qualified non-EEA applicants with job offers was in place. In February 2019, the Department of Business, Enterprise and Innovation told A’s solicitors that the permit quota had not been filled.
A’s representatives then asked the Minister to allow him to remain, relying on his qualification and job offer. The Minister treated the request as a submission concerning the proposed deportation. In April 2019, the Minister decided to deport him. The accompanying reasons said there was no information showing that A had specialist skills in deficit in Ireland.
The court held that this was a material error on the sole matter raised in A’s submission about the proposed deportation. It said it could not determine how the Minister would have decided the case had the relevant facts been correctly understood, because that would require the court to remake the Minister’s decision.
The judgment also stressed that a firm job offer, even in a sector short of workers, does not by itself prevent deportation. The Minister must balance the individual circumstances against the national interest, but must assess the facts without a material misunderstanding.
Mr Justice Max Barrett granted certiorari quashing the decision and remitted the matter to the Minister for fresh consideration. The judgment does not state what the Minister decided after remittal.