Latest News
A landmark Judgement has been delivered this morning in Europe’s highest Court
25th July 2008
A landmark Judgement has been delivered this morning in Europe’s highest Court in the case of four spouses of EU citizens seeking residence in Ireland. The matter was referred to the European Court of Justice by High Court judge, Ms Justice Finlay Geoghan, in March as the case raises the issue as to whether the Regulations made by the Minister for Justice are contrary to EU law on the free movement of citizens.
The four Applicants Blaise Metock, Roland Chinedu, Hencheal Ikogho and Henry Igbonanu arrived in Ireland seeking asylum. Following their application for asylum they each married non-Irish EU citizens, in Ireland and applied for a residence card as a spouse of a Union citizen residing and working in Ireland. However they were all issued with a “notice of intention to deport”.
Mr Metock is a national of Cameroon who arrived in Ireland in June 2006 and made an application for asylum. He had been in a relationship with Ngo Ikeng, also a Cameroonian national, for thirteen years and they have two children. Ikeng obtained British citizenship and the couple married in Ireland in October 2006. The following month Mr Metock applied for residency in Ireland based on his marriage to an EU citizen. His applications for both asylum and residency were subsequently refused.
Chinedu, a national of Nigeria came to Ireland in December 2005 seeking asylum. He married a German woman in Ireland in July 2006 and subsequently applied for residency however this was turned down.
Ikogho arrived in Ireland in November 2004 and made an application for asylum. His application was refused and a deportation order was made in September 2005. The previous year a he met a British woman who was living in Ireland and they married in June 2006. Mr Ikogho applied for residency the following month based on his marriage to an EU citizen however his application was turned down.
Henry Igbonanusi, a National of Nigeria applied for asylum in Ireland in April 2004. He was refused refugee status and a deportation order was issued in September 2005. In April 2006 he set up home with a Polish national and they were married in Ireland in November 2006. Mr Igbonanusi was however deported to Nigeria last December.
The applicants subsequently appealed their “notice of intention to deport” orders to the High Court seeking Judicial Review of the Ministers decisions, arguing that his decision was in breach of EU Law, particularly the right to live and work in any state within the EU.
The single reason given by the Minister for refusal of each application for residence was that the applicant had not submitted evidence showing prior lawful residence in another EU Member State. This requirement is imposed under Article 3(2) of the 2006 Irish Regulations, which give effect to EU Directive 2004/38/EC relating to the rights of Union citizens and their family members to move and reside freely within the EU. Each applicant contends that this requirement is inconsistent with the Directive and this is the crux of the matter referred by the High Court to the ECJ.
The key question raised is whether Directive permits a Member State to have a general requirement that a non-EU spouse of a Union citizen must have been lawfully present in another Member State prior to coming to the host Member State to benefit from the Directive.
Several EU states including Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and Denmark made representations before the European Court of Justice in support of the Minister. But the European Commission and immigrant rights groups have lined up in support of the applicants arguing that deporting the spouses of the EU citizens is discriminatory and contrary to one of the four basic European freedoms, the freedom to live and work in all European Member States.
The ruling on this issue has a profound effect on Asylum Law in the State and now sets a precedent for the whole of Europe. The Minister has indicated that he received 2,283 such applications in 2007 and the four cases which are the subject of this reference form part of in excess of fifty cases commenced before the High Court in 2007 seeking orders to quash the Decisions of the Minister for refusing applications under the Directive.
The decision of the ECJ brings matter back before the High Court to be ruled and will potentially grant an immediate right of residence in Ireland to thousands of Applicants awaiting the ECJ’s decision. Its future implications are that it will permit an individual, entering the State seeking asylum, to derive an automatic right of residence in the EU following marriage to a Union citizen. The current requirement of lawful residence in another Member State prior to entry into Ireland will therefore no longer apply.
The Minister is now facing claims for damages in certain of the proceedings principally relating to alleged loss of earnings of the applicants involved.
COLLINS CROWLEY
SOLICITORS FOR FIRST NAMED APPLICANTS
BOW STREET
DUBLIN 7
25th July 2008
