State granted leave to appeal deportation injunction protecting C & ors

This report is a localnews.ie summary based on public court reporting and records; sources are listed below.

The Supreme Court granted the Minister for Justice and Equality, Ireland and the Attorney General leave to appeal on 20 January 2016 against an injunction protecting C & ors from deportation. The panel comprised Denham C.J., Dunne J. and Charleton J.

The respondents were a father, mother and two minor children. Their applications for subsidiary protection and leave to remain were refused in 2011, when deportation orders were made.

On 19 April 2012, Cooke J. in the High Court refused leave to seek judicial review of the subsidiary-protection decisions and deportation orders, finding no stateable grounds. The respondents appealed the subsidiary-protection ruling but did not seek a certificate of leave to appeal concerning the deportation orders.

On 27 July 2015, the Court of Appeal granted an interlocutory injunction restraining deportation pending determination of their appeal. It found a fair and arguable case because the subsidiary-protection refusals partly adopted a negative credibility finding from the asylum decisions.

The Court of Appeal said the adults’ evasion of immigration obligations left little to commend their applications in isolation. However, it held that the children were innocent of their parents’ deceptions, would face significant dislocation and had rights to their parents’ company and care under Articles 41, 42 and 42A of the Constitution. Protecting those rights also required restraining the parents’ deportation.

The State applicants lodged their application for Supreme Court leave on 26 August 2015. Their proposed issues asked whether the Court of Appeal had used the correct injunction test after the High Court’s refusal of leave, and whether the children should be identified with their parents’ conduct when assessing the balance of convenience.