The person in question, along with her husband, arrived in the State and made an asylum application in July 2001. In December 2001 she gave birth. Both withdrew their asylum applications and applied for residency in the State on the basis of parentage of that Irish-born child.
Following the decision of the Supreme Court in the cases of L and O, the separate procedure which then existed to enable persons to apply to reside in the State on the sole basis of parentage of an Irish born child ended on 19 February 2003. The Government decided that the separate procedure would not apply to cases, which were outstanding on that date. The case to which the Deputy refers was one of the large number of such cases outstanding at that time.
The person in question, along with her husband, re-applied for asylum on 1 September 2003. Since this gave them an alternative legal basis for remaining in this jurisdiction the application for residency based on parentage of an Irish-born child was simply returned on 20 July 2004. The issue of permission to remain can be considered, but only in the context of a ministerial proposal to deport her in the event that her asylum application is refused. If, in the light of representations received and the range of factors set out in section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999, I decide not to make a deportation order she will be given leave to remain on a humanitarian basis.