Pregnant woman loses appeal on deportation order

The Supreme Court has dismissed an appeal by a Nigerian woman and her unborn child against a High Court decision rejecting their challenge to the making of a deportation order against the woman.

Chief Justice Mr Ronan Keane

The five-judge Court announced its decision this morning but said it would give its reasons at a later stage.

An application by woman’s legal team for a stay of five days on the deportation order was refused by the Chief Justice, Mr Justice Keane.

The deportation order is now in force and the woman is liable to arrest. The woman’s lawyers are considering an appeal to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.

The woman (32), who lives in Co Kerry, is due to give birth next May.

In his High Court judgment last month, Mr Justice Smyth had found the case concerned the legal right of the Minister to deport a person who had failed to secure a certificate of refugee status from the State because she was pregnant. He ruled the Minister was entitled to make the disputed order.

Opposing the appeal against that decision, Mr George Birmingham SC, for the State, argued at the Supreme Court this was not a "right to life" case. Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution, which dealt with the right to life of the unborn, was clearly referable to abortion and was not an issue here.

In submissions for the woman, Dr Michael Forde SC argued that because the unborn child was "a person", there had to be a specific decision to deport the unborn, including the making of a deportation order. In this case, the unborn child was not the subject of any deportation order.