The applicant, having been refused leave, applied to the High Court to certify that the matters at issue raised a point of law of exceptional public importance and that it was desirable in the public interest that an appeal be taken to the Supreme Court. The points raised by the applicant included that by virtue of being parents of an Irish child they were in a different position to failed asylum seekers wishing to reside in the State and that the standard of review in the circumstances ought to be the higher standard of anxious scrutiny as children’s rights were at issue.
The Court refused to certify the appeal, finding that in determining whether to certify, it must consider the point of law involved and not its determination on the point of law and that it involves a higher threshold than merely a point of law of public importance and that the requirements under Section 5(3)(a) of the Illegal Immigrants Act 2000 were cumulative. The Court held that the point raised regarding the standard of review had been appealed to the Supreme Court in a separate case and that the Court did not therefore wish to ask the Supreme Court to entertain a moot.
