The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a Nigerian man seeking more time to challenge a deportation order after finding that he had failed to act promptly once he learned of it.
The appellant, identified as A.B., came to Ireland in 1999 and applied for refugee status. His application and appeal were unsuccessful, and the Minister for Justice made a deportation order on 27 July 2000.
A.B. had originally lived in Dublin but moved to Dundalk in August 2000 without informing either the Minister or his solicitor. He registered his Dundalk address with Garda immigration authorities in September.
Notice of the deportation order was sent in December 2000 to his former Dublin address, while a copy was also sent to his solicitor. A.B. said he discovered the existence of the order sometime after Christmas after contacting the solicitor. He was arrested at his workplace in Dundalk on 7 February 2001.
The central legal issue was when the 14-day period for seeking judicial review began. Mr Justice Fennelly held that the statutory time limit started once the person was actually notified of the decision, and did not depend on strict compliance with the separate statutory provisions governing formal service.
That meant A.B. required an extension of time. The court rejected the explanation that his solicitor had been too busy with other cases, noting that no proceedings were started until after A.B.'s arrest and that he had moved without keeping either the Minister or his solicitor informed.
The court also considered the strength of the proposed challenge. It rejected an argument that the deportation order should expire after three months by analogy with a statutory rule applying only to people who had consented to deportation. It also found no arguable invalidity arising from the fact that A.B.'s girlfriend had become pregnant.
The appeal was dismissed.