Court Grants Judicial Review
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COURT GRANTS LEAVE TO APPLY FOR A JUDICIAL REVIEW OF INTERNATIONAL STUDENT’S CASE
The High Court (of Ireland) has granted an international student at NUI Galway leave to apply for a judicial review of the Government’s decision not to renew her permission to stay in the country unless her four-year-old son is taken out of a State-funded primary school.
Immigrant Council of Ireland (ICI) Senior Solicitor Hilkka Becker represented the student, Mrs Erin Britton, in the High Court today.
Ms Becker said Mrs Britton’s application argued that the Government has acted unlawfully in this case.
“Mrs Britton came to Ireland to study a two-year masters programme in Medieval Studies at NUI Galway in 2006 and was not told before she came here, or on her arrival, that a condition of her permission to stay was that her son must not attend a State school,” Ms Becker said.
“The first time Mrs Britton heard of this condition was when she tried to renew her permission to stay, at a point when her son was already attending primary school and when she is more than halfway through her masters programme.
“She has found the rules have changed without notice and that the Government is telling her that, in order to stay in Ireland to finish her course – which is costing her €12,000 a year in fees, plus loans to cover her living expenses – she must take her child out of the school where he is happily settled and enrol him in a private school.
“We believe Mrs Britton has a right to expect her permission to stay in Ireland would be renewed on the same terms as it was initially granted in 2006 – with no conditions relating to her son’s education.”
Ms Becker said the Government has acted unfairly because it gave Mrs Britton no notice of its change in policy, she received no decision in writing and was given no opportunity to appeal.
“It is ironic that the day before the UN’s International Migrants’ Day, we are in court seeking leave for a judicial review of a decision which we firmly believe breaches the Irish Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights and the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child,” she said.
“The ICI has consistently lobbied the Government to spell out in law what migrants’ rights to family life are and this case demonstrates that need.
“We would urge the Government to apply the same rules in Ireland as apply in the UK, where a child of an international student is permitted to receive a State education while a parent is studying there, provided the child leaves the country when the parent completes their studies.”
For further information, contact Ruth Evans on +353 87 067 3676.
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Notes to editors
UK Immigration Directorate Instructions state: “The child of a student may therefore receive state education while his parent is studying here but he would be expected to leave with his parent on completion of the parent’s studies.” Chapter 3, section 4.6.
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