Romanian asylum-seeker Dumitru Popa was last night being detained in the training unit of Mountjoy Prison after being rearrested by officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau on an outstanding deportation order.
Senior gardai now expect Mr Popa's legal team to apply for a judicial review after he was declared a free man by Mr Justice Quirke in the High Court, but rearrested outside the court.
The arrest was made under a deportation order signed in April by the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue. It was deemed yesterday that this order was still in force.
Mr Popa had been deported at the beginning of this month, but was returned to Ireland when gardai accompanying him on a flight to Amsterdam were informed that a habeas corpus order had been issued for his return.
Mr Con Pendred, solicitor for Mr Popa, had travelled to Dublin Airport with an order granting injunctive relief under the 1999 Immigration Act, restraining deportation, but his client had already left the State.
Nevertheless, contact was made with the pilot of the Aer Lingus jet, and Mr Popa was returned to Ireland and into custody with the injunction preventing deportation still in force.
Mr Justice Quirke yesterday ruled that Mr Popa had been detained illegally on his return, as the arrest had run out when he left the State.
However, gardai understood that a habeas corpus order was in force, and therefore a rearrest was not necessary. It became clear in court later that week that no such order had been issued and yesterday Mr Justice Quirke ruled that, technically, a rearrest should have been made.
Mr Popa came to the State from Romania two years ago seeking political asylum. He claims to have suffered persecution arising form his mother's involvement with the Communist party during the Ceausescu era.
In April Mr Popa travelled to Britain and later returned to the State under a false name. When arrested he was carrying papers claiming he was Italian.