THE IMMIGRANT Council of Ireland has lodged a formal complaint with the European Commission following the Government’s decision to deport the fiance of a British citizen living in Ireland.
Lasha Sabashvili, who lived in Castlebar, Co Mayo, with his fiancee Gloria Walker, is one of 38 Georgians who were deported yesterday by charter flight from Dublin airport.
Ms Walker, who is a permanent resident and has lived in Ireland since she was a child, said her Georgian fiance was arrested at 5am yesterday and subsequently deported by the Irish authorities.
She said her fiance sought asylum in Ireland but his application was rejected. They had been in a committed relationship for eight months and had known each other for more than a year and a half.
The council, which is providing her with legal support, said this was a clear case of wrongful deportation, which raised very serious questions about the Government’s transposition of the EU free movement directive into Irish law.
Hilkka Becker, senior solicitor at the council, said Mr Sabashvili applied for a residence permit on the basis of his relationship with Ms Walker but the Government refused to accept his application on the basis that the couple could not show that they had been in a relationship for two years or more.
Ms Becker said the insistence that they must show they had been a relationship for two years was arbitrary and not consistent with EU law. The Government compounded this abuse of process by refusing to provide for an independent review of the decision, she added.
Of the 38 Georgians who were deported, 33 were men, four were women and one was a child, according to the Department of Justice.