Kweder v The Minister for Justice

• Jurisdiction: Ireland
• Judge: Mr. Justice Geoghegan
• Judgment Date: 01 January 1996
• Neutral Citation: 1994 WJSC-HC 3335
• Docket Number: No. 276 JR/1994,[1994 No. 276 J.R.]
• Court: High Court
• Date: 01 January 1996

KWEDER v. MIN JUSTICE

Judicial Review

BETWEEN

WAEL KWEDER

APPLICANT

AND

THE MINISTER FOR JUSTICE, IRELAND AND THE ATTORNEYGENERAL

RESPONDENTS

1994 WJSC-HC 3335

No. 276 JR/1994

THE HIGH COURT

Synopsis:

ALIENS

State

Entry - Leave - Application - Refusal - Grounds - Validity - Public policy - Applicant Syrian - Deportation from United Kingdom - Applicant married to national of United Kingdom - Applicant's wife resident in Ireland - Whether deportation a ground for such refusal - Whether common travel area between Ireland and United Kingdom threatened by grant of visa - Council Directive 68/360/E.E.C., article 10 - Treaty of Rome (E.E.C.), article 48.3 - (1994/276 JR - Geoghegan J. - 11/10/94) - [1996] 1 IR 381

|Kweder v. Minister for Justice|

WORDS AND PHRASES

"Public policy"

Foreigner - State - Entry - Permission - Refusal - Grounds - Validity - (1994/276 JR - Geoghegan J. - 11/10/94) - [1996] 1 IR 381

|Kweder v. Minister for Justice|

Citations:

EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES (ALIENS) REGS 1977 SI 393/77

TREATY OF ROME ART 48.3

EEC REG 1612/68

EEC DIR 68/360 ART 10

R V IMMIGRATION APPEAL TRIBUNAL 1992 3 AER 798

VAN DUYN V HOME OFFICE 1974 ECR 1337

BON SIGNORE V STADT KOLN 1975 ECR 297

1 Judgment of Mr. Justice Geoghegandelivered the11th day of October 1994.

2 This is an application for Judicial Review brought pursuant to leave granted by Mr. Justice Barr on the 27th June, 1994. The primary relief which the Applicant is seeking is an Order of Certiorari quashing the decision of the Minister for Justice made on the 14th of June, 1994 to refuse the Applicant's application for a visa to enter the State which application had been made on the 13th of May, 1994. The Applicant also seeks a number of associated declarations, if necessary an Order of Certiorari quashing the European Communities (Aliens) Regulations, 1977, an Order of Mandamus directing the Minister to reconsider the Applicant's application for a visa and damages. It has been agreed that the question of damages be left over for the time being.

3 The Applicant is a Syrian National whose wife, Deborah (formerly Deborah Rollings), is a U.K. National and British subject. The Applicant's wife is currently residing andworking in Ireland and the Applicant claims that by virtue of European Community Law he is entitled to reside with his wife in Ireland and that the State is obliged to grant him the necessary visa.

4 The application is grounded upon an Affidavit by Mrs. Deborah Kweder who deposes to the fact that she is a British National and was born in England to English parents. The Affidavit sets out that her relationship with the Applicant commenced in or about September 1991 but at that time she was already married to a third party and was in the process of obtaining a divorce. A decision to marry was made in or about February 1992 but there was considerable delay in finalising the divorce. In January 1993, Mrs. Kweder and the Applicant went through an Islamic ceremony of marriage but on the 5th of July, 1993 very shortly after the divorce was finalised, she and the Applicant went through a civil ceremony of marriage at Huntingdon in England. It is accepted by the State that Deborah Kweder is lawfully married to the Applicant. The Applicant breached certain conditions attached to his student visa in England and following on arrest and protracted Appeal procedures, a U.K. Deportation Order was ultimately made in respect of him in January 1994. He was removed from Britain back to Syria on the 30th of March, 1994. In the meantime, the Applicant had applied to the Irish Embassy for a visa to enable him to enter this State but that had been refused. Mrs. Kweder decided to move to Ireland on the 25th of April, 1994 and on the 27th of April, 1994 she took up employment as a griddle cook with Forte restaurants working in the Little Chef near the Dublin Airport and she has been employed there ever since and isabout to be promoted to a supervisory post. Since coming to Ireland, she has resided with friends in Swords.

5 The Applicant's wife has sworn that the accommodation in Swords would be suitable for herself and her husband and she, in due course, informed her husband of her arrival in Ireland and of the address. He then applied on the 13th of May, 1994 once again for an Irish visa. By a letter of the 14th of June, 1994, Mrs. Kweder was informed that her husband's application had been refused and that this decision had been made by the Department of Justice and not by the Department of Foreign Affairs. Mrs. Kweder and her husband sought expert advice and a Ms. Nuala Mole, director at the Aire centre entered into telephone conversations with the Department and ultimately wrote a letter in which she set out at length why in her view the Department's refusal of the Applicant's application was mistaken. The Department did not alter its position and as a consequence these proceedings were instituted.

6 A replying Affidavit on behalf of the Minister has been sworn by Mary O'Reilly the Assistant Principal Officer in the Department of Justice who dealt with the visa application. It emerges from that Affidavit that the refusal to permit the Applicant to reside in this Country was based on public policy grounds and that two quiet separate alleged public policies were invoked. It is not in dispute that having regard to ...