A Hong Kong national facing deportation from Britain suffered a setback yesterday in his court attempt to join his wife and young daughter in Ireland.
Mr Albert Tong (43) is seeking to be with his Cornish born wife, Becky, and daughter, Monica (3), who flew to Dublin from Britain last week to set up a new home.
Mr Tong, who has lived illegally in Cornwall for 17 years, is being held at the Immigration Detention Centre in Tinsley House, near Oatwick Airport.
He was arrested last month in a Methodist church in west Cornwall after he had failed to report for a flight to Hong Kong in May. Mr Tong's lawyers said he suffered a minor heart attack when he was arrested. He was refused bail following Home Office evidence that he "remained fit" and was being seen by a nurse every day.
Yesterday, he was due to apply for permission to bring a High Court challenge against the British government's refusal to release him from detention and allow him to join his family in Ireland. But a judge adjourned the application for seven days after Mr Neil Garnham, appearing for the Home Office, said there was no objection to Mr Tong going.
The problem was that the Irish authorities had adopted a "can't say we will, can't say we won't" stance to the question whether he would be allowed to enter the country.
There was a danger Mr Tong would become a ping pong ball bouncing between the two countries in what would be "an administrative nightmare", said Mr Garnham.
He told Mr Justice Kay the matter had been referred to the Irish Attorney General at the end of last week and it was hoped an adjournment today would put pressure on the Irish "to make their minds up".
Mr Rick Scannell, appearing for Mr Tong, said his client would welcome being a ping pong ball for the purpose of making one attempted entry to Ireland.
The whole basis of the case wad that he had a right to join his wife, who was an EU worker, in Ireland under EU freedom of movement laws.
If only he was allowed to leave Britain, he could get those rights tested, argued Mr Scannell.
The judge said he would grant an adjournment to give the Irish authorities time to consider the matter, but he indicated they should be told any further adjournment "was unlikely in the extreme".
A government spokeswoman said yesterday that the Attorney General's office had not received any application about Mr Tong's case.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said no comment could be made on Mr Tong's case. She said that under a mutual agreement between the Irish and British governments, persons entering Ireland from the United Kingdom are not subject to immigration control at airports or other points of entry.