The Court of Appeal has refused an injunction preventing the deportation of a Georgian man while his appeal over an international protection case remains pending.
Ms Justice Costello delivered judgment on 26 August 2026. The appellant, identified as P.S., had challenged a decision refusing to extend the time available to appeal a second refusal of international protection. The High Court dismissed that judicial review in April 2026, and he appealed.
P.S. argued that he should remain in Ireland pending that appeal because he feared assault, kidnapping or death in Georgia. He said he had served in the Georgian Special Forces and participated in the 2012 Lopota Valley operation involving Chechens. He alleged that later incidents, including being followed, approaches near his farm and an assault on his brother in 2024, showed that people seeking revenge continued to target him.
The court accepted that his legal appeal was arguable because related challenges to the strict appeal-time rules under the International Protection Procedures regulations were already awaiting judgment from the Court of Appeal.
However, the court did not accept that P.S. had established the required risk of serious harm. Ms Justice Costello examined accounts previously given to the International Protection Office and Tribunal and found them vague, inconsistent and speculative. The court noted significant discrepancies over the number and nature of alleged kidnapping attempts, whether incidents had been reported to police and how often he had been followed.
The judge also found that the events described were capable of innocent explanations and did not objectively establish attempts to kidnap or harm him.
P.S. separately argued that deportation would make any later successful protection appeal pointless. The court rejected that argument, holding that an appeal could proceed from abroad and that there was no basis to assume either the Tribunal or Minister would fail to act lawfully if he later succeeded.
The application to restrain deportation was therefore refused.