The High Court dismissed a judicial review challenging a deportation order against Diogo De Souza, finding that the Minister for Justice and Equality was not required to decide an EU Treaty Rights application that had not been made before the order. The court also discharged any stay on deportation.
Mr Justice Richard Humphreys delivered the judgment on 4 June 2019. The proceedings were brought by De Souza and Viktoriia Langovska, who said they had been in a relationship since 2014. The primary relief sought was certiorari of the deportation order made on 10 December 2018 and notified to De Souza on 17 January 2019. The judgment records that the applicants obtained leave to bring proceedings on 11 February 2019 and that an interim stay had been placed on deportation. The parties disputed whether that stay had been continued; the judge said the perfected orders supported the Minister’s position.
De Souza entered Ireland from Brazil in March 2008, aged 15. The judgment says he had no permission to remain after his initial entry. A notice of intention to deport was served in April 2013, and submissions were made under section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999. De Souza applied under the EU free movement rules on 7 February 2019, after the deportation order; that application was refused on 8 May. He also sought revocation of the order, an application the judgment says had not yet been decided. The applicants later applied for a review of the EU Treaty Rights refusal.
The court rejected the complaint that the Minister should have treated information in the section 3 submissions as an EU Treaty Rights application. The judgment said the statutory procedure had not been activated before the deportation order, so its absence did not invalidate that order. It also rejected claims that the Minister failed to lawfully consider the first applicant’s Article 8 family and private life rights, conduct a proportionality analysis, or properly assess his employment prospects. The judge said no exceptional circumstances had been demonstrated to show that deportation would breach Article 8, and found no clear unlawfulness in the employment assessment.
The court said any EU Treaty Rights claim could be considered through the review application. It dismissed the judicial review as misconceived and discharged any stay on deportation. The judgment does not determine the outcome of the pending revocation application or the review application.