The High Court has ruled that a Nigerian man’s temporary release from prison to facilitate his deportation was unlawful. The applicant’s partner and one year old child brought the application as co-applicants on his behalf. The judgment of the High Court was restricted to the legality of the man’s release from prison.
Mr. O, the man at the centre of the decision, arrived in Ireland in 2008 as an underage minor and was identified as a potential victim of human trafficking. He was granted leave to remain and applied for asylum in 2010, at which stage he was over 18. Later that year he was charged with an assault and received a suspended prison term. In 2011, the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) confirmed to the Refugee Legal Service that they no longer suspected him as a victim of trafficking and his permission to remain was not extended. An appeal was refused, and a deportation order was issued in August 2012.
Mr. O sought a revocation of his deportation order on the basis that the Minister at the time was unaware of his relationship with a French national with whom he had an Irish citizen child. Mr. O argued that this afforded him a strong legal basis to remain in the State. Having alerted the Minister to these circumstances, he received an acknowledgment from the Irish Naturalisation and Integration Service (INIS) undertaking that he would not be served with a deportation order pending the outcome of the application of revocation. The following day, however, the GNIB applied for his immediate temporary release from the prison service and he was immediately deported.
Justice MacEochaidh observed that the condition for his temporary release was stated as "deportation from the State", which is not one of the specified conditions for temporary release from prison under the Criminal Justice (Temporary Release of Prisoner) Act 2003. The Act also states that temporary release is subject to the individual returning to the prison within a certain period, which would be incongruous with deportation.
Justice MacEochaidh decided that the sole purpose of this temporary release was to facilitate deportation, and not for any reason expressed in the section of the temporary release legislation. He said that the authorities did not inform Mr. O or his lawyers of the rejection of his revocation of deportation until moments before he was put on a flight to Lagos. In preventing his access to seek legal advice, access to the courts to challenge the decision, or even any opportunity to see his partner or child, Justice MacEochaidh stated that “to facilitate the removal of the applicant, the prison authorities abused their powers to grant temporary release".