The High Court declared the detention of a Moldovan woman at Dublin Airport unlawful and awarded her €7,500 in damages after finding that the State failed to meet its obligations under EU free movement law.
In a judgment delivered on 3 June 2011, Mr Justice Hogan found that the woman, Ms Raducan, had a right to enter Ireland as the spouse of a Romanian citizen. She had a valid family residence card which exempted her from the visa requirement. The judge concluded she had produced, or tried to produce, the card or her marriage certificate to immigration officers, but that confusion and communication difficulties meant the documents were not properly considered.
The couple arrived from Bucharest on 29 October 2010. The woman was arrested and detained pending removal, while her husband was allowed into Ireland. She was released on 2 November 2010 following a separate constitutional inquiry into the legality of her detention. The judgment records that she had been in custody for the equivalent of almost three full days.
The immigration officers said they had not seen the residence card or marriage certificate. The judge described both officers as conscientious and accepted that their evidence was honest. However, neither had previously encountered a family residence card or knew its significance. The court also heard there was no visa-issuing facility at Dublin Airport, no interpreter had been used, and the Romanian Embassy had not been contacted.
The court found the State had breached Article 5(2) of the EU directive by failing to provide a facility to obtain a visa as soon as possible through an accelerated process. It also found a breach of Article 5(4), which requires authorities to give people a reasonable opportunity to obtain documents or otherwise establish their free movement rights before turning them back.
The judge declared that the woman’s detention breached her constitutional right to liberty and that the State had failed to comply with those EU obligations by refusing her admission without offering a visa-processing facility in Ireland. The damages award was €7,500 for breaches of her constitutional rights. The judgment records that the State did not oppose an application to amend the pleadings to include a damages claim and would submit to judgment on that point.