The Supreme Court has ruled against overturning a decision to deport a Nigerian man came to Ireland illegally and who claimed the order would interfere with the constitutional rights of his three children who are lawfully living here.
Chief Justice Dónal O’Donnell ruled that the High Court was correct in concluding that the man’s deportation would not be an impermissible interference with the children’s constitutional right to care and companionship from their father, since there was no evidence of a “real meaningful relationship” between the man and the children.
All seven member of the Supreme Court agreed and also gave the same conclusion when considering the man’s right to family and private life under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Having entered this State unlawfully in 2007, the Nigerian man married the mother of the three children in a religious ceremony which is not recognised in Ireland.
The couple separated in 2014, and the man was made a joint guardian of the children by a 2015 order of the District Court. However, the Nigerian was refused permission to remain in the State and an order for his deportation was issued in 2016.
The man said that despite the separation, he was continually involved in his children’s lives. The mother has been claiming the lone parent allowance since 2013, the Department of Social Protection said.
In his ruling, Mr Justice O’Donnell said the absence of evidence in regard to the man’s relationship with the children was “telling”.
The court noted that the deportation order had now been revoked as the Minister for Justice had then granted the man leave to stay under the Regularisation of Long-Term Undocumented Migrants Scheme.
It was the court’s belief however that the appeal should be heard as a point of general public importance should be decided.
The High Court, hearing an appeal against the deportation order then made by the Minister for Justice, refused to overturn the decision, ruling that the children’s constitutional rights would only be breached if it was established that there was a “meaningful involved relationship” between the man and his children.
The man then appealed the High Court ruling, but the today the Supreme Court unanimously upheld the lower court’s decision.