Mr Con Pendred, the solicitor acting for Romanian refugee Mr Dumitru Popa, yesterday defended his actions in carrying information about a High Court order to members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau and Aer Lingus officials at Dublin Airport on August 1st last.
He told Mr Justice Finnegan in the High Court that when he learned that Mr Popa had been arrested and taken for deportation to Dublin Airport, he had gone into the High Court before Mr Justice Herbert "armed with a very skimpy affidavit", which had been prepared in a great hurry.
He said Mr Justice Herbert had stated he would not hear the ex parte habeas corpus application that day, August 1st, but would do so on August 3rd.
Mr Justice Herbert had told him he should prepare a fuller affidavit for the August 3rd hearing but that, in view of the urgency, he would grant an interim injunction restraining the authorities from deporting Mr Popa.
"That order was made just about the time I believe the plane took off from Dublin airport," he said.
Mr Pendred said he informed the Garda authorities of the order, and also Aer Lingus. It appeared that the initiative had then been taken by Aer Lingus, which had cancelled the onward flight to Bucharest and had advised that Mr Popa and his Garda escort should be brought back to Dublin.
"It has been unfairly stated by the Minister's legal representatives that I misrepresented the order, but I reject that entirely," Mr Pendred said.
He said an ex parte order had been made "in habeas corpus proceedings" restraining the deportation until further order, and August 3rd had been stated as the date the matter would be next heard.
"If the process of deportation had continued on from Amsterdam I believe, and was so advised by counsel, that the Garda authorities would have been in contempt of court as would Aer Lingus if they had facilitated the continuation of the deportation," he said.