The Supreme Court has ruled that an order for the deportation of a Nigerian family is valid despite the family’s contention that the order had not been “personally directed” by the Minister for Justice but instead by a senior official at the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service. The Supreme Court decision arose from judicial review proceedings in the High Court challenging the Minister’s decision to deport them. Mr. Justice Hogan of the High Court referred the matter to the Supreme Court on the basis that the derogation of Ministerial power to senior officials presented an exceptional point of law of public importance.
Justice MacMenamin delivered the decision on behalf of the Supreme Court relying heavily on the Carltona Principle, as set down in the 1943 UK Court of Appeal case of Carltona Ltd v Commissioners of Works. Mr. Justice MacMenamin outlined the legal and political responsibility incumbent on the Minister to the courts and the Dáil and the equal legal status in which the Minister and their department are held.
Examining the Carltona principle further, Mr. Justice MacMenamin outlined the frequent role of senior officials in preparing documents for consideration by the minister, in considering objections, summarising memoranda and outlining policy approaches to be taken by the minister as an integral part of the department’s decision making process. At the core of the Carltona principle was that the functions entrusted to the departmental officials were carried out by senior officials who had exercised them within the scope of that department’s responsibility.
Rejecting the appellants’ case, Judge MacMenamin outlined that “no express act of delegation” between the minister and senior officials was necessary in such decision making processes but rather “what is in question in this appeal is clearly devolved power to an official rather than a delegation per se.” Ultimately the appellants’ had not succeeded in demonstrating that the decision making power in question had been negatived, confined or restricted by express statutory provision or by clear necessary implication.
Click here to read the judgement in full.
Click here to read an article in the Irish Times.