The High Court refused an application by Ms N.F. for permission to seek joinder as a notice party in a judicial review concerning the refusal to revoke a deportation order. It also continued a permanent restriction on publishing information that could identify the applicant’s child.
The judicial review was brought by A.O.M., a Nigerian national, to challenge the Minister for Justice and Equality’s decision of 3 December 2014 refusing to revoke a deportation order dated 8 January 2003. The judgment, delivered by Mr Justice Richard Humphreys on 11 May 2016, addressed Ms N.F.’s application to join those proceedings; it did not decide the underlying judicial review.
The judgment said A.O.M. and Ms N.F. are the parents of an Irish citizen child born on 14 December 2005. Their relationship later broke down, and A.O.M. was deported to Nigeria on 17 December 2007. District Court access proceedings he had brought were struck out because he had been deported.
Ms N.F.’s counsel said she did not know what A.O.M. was saying about her. The court held that this was not, by itself, a basis for her to join. It said that even if A.O.M. were ultimately permitted to return to Ireland, making it easier for him to bring family law applications, those indirect consequences did not give Ms N.F. a legal interest in whether the Minister’s refusal was set aside.
Counsel also raised concerns about alleged threats involving possible removal of the child from the jurisdiction. A.O.M.’s counsel denied those threats. The judge said the concern was contingent on A.O.M. returning and could be addressed in any family law proceedings brought later. A proposed request to make the child a party was no longer being pursued.
The judge observed that A.O.M. might seek District Court access by telephone or video link while abroad, and said any such application would have to be brought separately. The court did not rule on whether such an application would succeed. It refused Ms N.F.’s application for permission to seek joinder and ordered the child-identification restriction to continue permanently.