The High Court has allowed a Brazilian family living in Roscommon Town to challenge deportation orders, finding arguable grounds that the impact on the family’s children was not properly assessed.
Odenis Rodrigues dos Santos came to Ireland in September 2002 to work. His permission expired the following year, but he remained in the State. His wife and five children later joined him, arriving during 2006 and 2007. By March 2012, the Minister for Justice had made deportation orders against all seven family members.
The family argued that the children had become integrated into Irish life and education and that the Minister had not adequately considered what removal to Brazil would mean for each of them.
Mr Justice Colm Mac Eochaidh examined the Department’s section 3 assessment. It recorded the children’s ages, length of residence, schooling and the family solicitor’s statement that they had settled well and made friends. It also acknowledged that deportation could interfere with their private lives because of their educational and social ties.
However, the report then concluded that the interference was not serious enough to engage Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The judge held that there were substantial grounds for arguing that this analysis did not properly address the consequences for each child.
The court also allowed an argument based on the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child to proceed. Although the Convention had not been incorporated directly into Irish law, the judge held it was arguable that legislation adopted after Ireland ratified it should, where possible, be interpreted consistently with its principles. That raised an arguable case that the children’s best interests should have been a primary consideration.
Other proposed grounds, including challenges concerning the indefinite duration of deportation orders and the need for the Minister personally to sign them, were refused because existing High Court authority was against the family.
The court extended time for the challenge and restrained deportation of the entire family pending determination of the judicial review.