The High Court has dismissed a judicial review challenge by A.R. (Pakistan) and M.K. to the refusal of a residence card for a permitted family member of a Union citizen.
Mr Justice Richard Humphreys gave judgment on 11 December 2018. The applicants had sought to overturn a Ministerial decision of 8 March 2018 refusing a review of the original refusal. The underlying application concerned whether the first applicant was the partner of the second applicant, a Hungarian national, in a durable relationship.
The judgment records that the applicants gave differing accounts of when and how they met, their relationship and their arrival in Ireland. The Minister had also raised concerns about inconsistent utility bills, the absence of evidence of shared finances or assets, and information about the second applicant’s movements before August 2015. These were concerns recorded in the decisions and judgment, rather than new findings on each underlying event by the court.
The Minister wrote on 9 February 2018 setting out concerns and inviting a response. The applicants did not respond before the review decision issued. The first applicant said he had not seen an emailed copy of the letter until 1 March; the judge found the explanation unconvincing and noted that there was still time to reply. The court held that the applicants’ failure to engage with the review process precluded relief by judicial review.
The judge also considered the pleaded grounds. He found that the review decision gave detailed reasons and that the applicants had not established irrationality, unlawfulness or procedural irregularity. He rejected their argument that Ireland had failed properly to transpose the relevant EU directive, concluding that the regulations’ approach was lawful. Several further points raised in oral submissions were not pleaded, and the court said it could not grant relief on them.
The judgment records separately that the Registrar had upheld an objection to the proposed marriage as one of convenience, and that the applicants’ appeal against that decision remained pending in the Circuit Court at the time. The High Court did not decide that appeal. It dismissed the judicial review application. The judge added that Garda authorities should make appropriate support and assistance available to the EU citizen in cases involving a finding of a marriage or proposed marriage of convenience.