Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 30 January 2013
149. Deputy John Lyons asked the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of cases currently awaiting decision in his Department based on the Zambrano judgment; the criteria being used to decide on cases under the Zambrano judgment; and if he will detail the level of discretion used as part of this process. [4628/13]
Amharc ar fhreagraAs of 23rd January, 2013, the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service had 784 cases on hands where the applicants were seeking a right of residency in the State, accompanied by a right to work, based on the principles of the European Court of Justice Judgment in the Zambrano case. Of these, 416 cases cannot be progressed further until the documentation requested from the relevant applicants has been received while the remaining 368 cases are made up of cases which are at various stages of processing and those cases which have just recently been received and, as such, no detailed examination of the documentation submitted has yet taken place.
Given the facts of the Zambrano case, the criteria to be met in each individual case are that each applicant parent must be a third country national who is residing in the State with their Irish born minor citizen child or children, they must be playing a significant role in the upbringing of their Irish born minor citizen child or children and the applicant parent's immigration circumstances must be such that if a decision was taken to refuse him or her a right of residency, the Irish born minor citizen child or children would be at risk of being expelled from the State and, by extension, the EU and, as such, they would not be able to enjoy the substance of their rights as an Irish and EU citizen.
Decisions in Zambrano type cases are based on the provisions of national legislation and outside of the criteria referrred to above, discretion is applied as necessary on a case by case basis including cases where serious or persistent criminality is involved. Following the Zambrano Judgment, I used my discretion to direct my Officials to urgently examine all cases before the courts involving third country national parents of Irish born minor citizen children to see where such cases could be settled based on the principles of the Zambrano Judgment, and without waiting for the High Court to make rulings in each individual case. This approach alone has led to 134 cases being taken off the High Court's Asylum List which provided a substantial dividend for the Court in terms of reducing its workload and also brought legal certainty to the Irish born minor citizen children and the family units involved.
