The applicants had applied for asylum and later withdrew their asylum claims and applied for residency on the basis of their parentage of an Irish born child. The Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform refused the latter application and subsequently issued deportation orders. The applicants applied to have the deportation orders quashed on the basis that their rights under the Constitution to a family life were being interfered with.
The High Court held that parentage of an Irish born child gave no right of residence in the State. It also held that the applicants had not established any arguable grounds for challenging the decisions to deport them in accordance with Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999. The court found that persons who were the subject of immigration control did not need to be given an opportunity to make representations in relation to policy in that sphere.
