The High Court dismissed Lin Qing’s judicial review challenge to a deportation order and concluded that his detention under that order was lawful.
Mr Justice David Keane delivered the judgment on 2 July 2019 in two linked proceedings: an Article 40.4.2° inquiry into detention and a judicial review of the deportation order and a written notification of the decision to deport.
The main issue in the judicial review was whether the deportation order had to state a specific departure deadline in its own text, or whether it could refer to a date in a separate written notification. The applicant also argued that the notification had been signed by an official who was not sufficiently senior under the Carltona principle.
A further argument raised in the detention inquiry was that the detention document was defective because it was headed “Notification of Arrest and Detention” rather than described as a warrant. The court reviewed earlier decisions concerning similar documents. It also noted that a separate argument about the arresting officer’s grounds for suspecting that the applicant had not left Ireland was withdrawn, and the judge therefore did not rule on it.
After the proceedings were reopened and adjourned pending a Supreme Court appeal, the applicant accepted that the Supreme Court’s decision in M.A.K. v Minister for Justice and Equality had resolved the departure-deadline issue against him. Justice Keane held that the prescribed form did not have to state the date on which the deportation took effect. He concluded that there was no error in exercising the detention power.
On the Carltona issue, the judge was not persuaded that the higher executive officer’s execution of the written notification breached the principle. He accepted the Minister’s submission that issuing the notification was procedural and distinct from making the deportation decision.
The court dismissed the judicial review proceedings and concluded the Article 40 inquiry, finding the detention lawful. The judgment states that the applicant had been released on bail pending the outcome of the inquiry.