The High Court has rejected a challenge to an immigration detention warrant, finding no error on its face and no basis to release the applicant under Article 40.4.2 of the Constitution.
The inquiry concerned the detention of Mohammed Lachheb, also known as Adam Alaoui, at Cloverhill Prison. He had been held there since 5 August 2016 under a warrant executed that day by Detective Garda Liam Lawton. The Governor of Cloverhill Prison provided a certificate on 25 August confirming that the detention was under the warrant.
The warrant recorded a refusal of permission to land under section 4(3) of the Immigration Act 2004. The applicant argued that this was a fatal error because he had been in Ireland since 4 June, and the warrant should have referred to refusal of permission to be in the State.
The State accepted that permission to land and permission to be in the State were distinct. It argued, however, that the statutory provisions and case law had to be read together, and that the applicant had not lawfully landed. The applicant disputed the State’s argument that permission to be in the State depended on first having permission to land.
In an ex tempore judgment delivered on 25 August 2016, Ms Justice O’Regan reviewed the parties’ arguments and the authorities cited. She said that any conflation between the different permissions was not significant enough to show an error on the face of the warrant. She also referred to case law treating lawful landing as relevant to the statutory provisions.
The judge concluded that the applicant had not lawfully landed in the State and that refusal of permission to land was appropriate. She was satisfied there was no error on the face of the warrant and no basis to find the detention unlawful or order the applicant’s release under Article 40. The judgment therefore dismissed the challenge to the warrant; it did not determine any further immigration outcome.