Gardai on an aircraft were told that the High Court had ordered them to return a deported Romanian asylum-seeker to Ireland when no such order had been made, it emerged in the High Court yesterday.
Mr Dimitru Popa was produced in court on foot of a non-existent habeas corpus order allegedly granted on Tuesday evening by Mr Justice Herbert.
The judge said in court yesterday that he had granted only injunctive relief under the 1999 Immigration Act, restraining the Minister for Justice from deporting Mr Popa from Dublin Airport after he had been told Mr Popa was still in the territory of Ireland. Mr Justice Herbert said he did not know Mr Popa had already been deported.
Mr Patrick McCarthy SC, for the Minister, told the judge that what had been indicated to the State was that an order of habeas corpus had been made by the High Court under Article 40 of the Constitution.
Mr McCarthy said the gardai had brought Mr Popa back from Amsterdam, en route to Bucharest, on the basis that a habeas corpus order had been granted and was in place.
Dr Michael Forde SC, counsel for Mr Popa, said he was not proceeding on foot of the order which had been granted under the immigration legislation but was applying to the court for leave to legally challenge the Minister's order to deport Mr Popa. Counsel said it was Mr Popa's contention that he was being held in unlawful custody by the gardai and he [counsel] would be seeking his release.
Mr Justice Herbert said that Mr Popa had been returned to Ireland and he would continue his injunction, restraining deportation, until next Wednesday, when the new application could be brought before the court.
Mr Sean Deegan, also for Mr Popa, who made the original application last Tuesday for injunctive restraint under the Immig ration Act, said the order had been made at 4.10 p.m. that day. He said that when Mr Popa's solicitor, Mr Con Pendred, had gone to the airport, he had been told Mr Popa was already on his way to Amsterdam. Mr Deegan told the judge he had not obtained an order for habeas corpus on Tuesday evening. He had not applied for one.