Two Syrian families who took legal proceedings in Ireland aimed to stop them being sent to Turkey from Greece are now in their wished-for destination of Germany, the High Court has heard.
A dispute as to whether the solicitor representing the families – the Dublin law firm McGarr Solicitors – should pay the State and EU defendants costs of the case that was adjourned to later this month.
The two families arrived in Greece around March 2016 seeking asylum having fled war-torn Syria. They brought a case here in late 2016 against the EU, the European Council, Ireland and the Attorney General.
They claimed their rights had been breached by an EU-Turkey arrangement providing for the return of new irregular migrants arriving in Turkey after March 20th 2016. They sought a transfer from Greece to Germany where other members of both families lived.
After the case was initiated last November, the court was told one of the families, a man and his teenage daughter, had received a positive decision about transfer to Germany.
‘Complete waste of time’
On Friday, the case was withdrawn at the High Court after Mr Justice Tony O’Connor was told all six people involved in the case are now in Germany. The development came as the court was about to embark on the second day of the hearing of an application concerning the Irish court’s jurisdiction to hear the case.
Padraig McCartan SC, instructed by Edward McGarr, said the case was now moot and being withdrawn. He requested there be no order as to costs as they were refugees who had lost everything.
Maurice Collins SC, for the EU defendants, said he wanted the court to require Mr McGarr to swear an affidavit as to when exactly he learned his clients were in Germany in circumstances where a full day had already been spent on a case which the EU defendants had argued should never have been taken against them.
Papers had been exchanged over Christmas and the New Year “for a hearing which should never have taken place and was never necessary”, Mr Collins said. What had occurred had been “a complete waste of time”, he added.
Nuala Butler SC, for the Irish defendants, said her clients wanted their costs and there was provision in law for those to be made against the solicitor firm rather than just its clients.
Financial and reputational implications
Mr McCartan, for the plaintiffs, said this was now turning into an inquiry into Mr McGarr who had at all times informed the court of what he knew including, in late November, that one of the families was going to Germany.
As far as the second family was concerned, the information about their location was very recent, counsel said.
Mr Justice O’Connor said he was very conscious of the financial and reputational implications for Mr McGarr of the kind of costs order being sought and he would adjourn the matter so Mr McGarr could obtain independent legal advice.
The judge directed that Mr McGarr identify the dates he was told his clients had arrived in Germany and the dates on which he communicated with his clients about that. He also directed Mr McGarr’s clients should disclose the dates they arrived.
The judge adjourned the case to later this month for Mr McGarr to state whether he would be disputing or complying with the court’s directions. After that, a hearing would be conducted into the issue of costs, he said.