The High Court has temporarily blocked the deportation of a South African mother and her six children while they challenge the Minister for Justice’s refusal to revoke their deportation orders.
Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan granted the family permission to bring judicial review proceedings and ordered that they not be deported pending determination of the case.
The family arrived in Ireland in November 2023 and sought international protection, citing threats and extortion by gangsters, racial and religious abuse and fears for the children’s safety. Their protection applications and subsequent permission-to-remain process were unsuccessful. Deportation orders were made on 30 April 2025.
The mother later sought revocation under section 3(11) of the Immigration Act 1999. Medical material submitted to the Minister included evidence of an overdose in March 2025 and reports from a consultant psychiatrist who considered that forced return could create a high suicide risk and severe psychiatric deterioration.
An updated April 2026 report said her condition had worsened and that enforced removal could precipitate acute suicidality and impair her ability to function as sole carer for the children.
The Minister refused revocation on 22 May 2026. The decision concluded that the medical evidence did not establish the threshold required to prevent return and that there was no proof treatment in South Africa would be inadequate.
At this preliminary stage, the High Court did not decide whether that refusal was unlawful. It found, however, that there were substantial grounds to argue that the Minister considered the suicide risk only through Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights and failed separately to address the constitutional right to life under Article 40.3.2.
The judge also found arguable grounds concerning the impact on the children if their mother died by suicide and the rationality of the Minister’s treatment of the medical evidence.
In granting the injunction, she held that the potential risk to life and the consequences for six children of losing their mother and sole carer outweighed the temporary interference with implementation of the deportation orders.