The High Court was told yesterday that lawyers for a Nigerian man would be arguing Ireland has no power to deport him because of legal developments within the past year in relation to parents of Irish-born children.
Mr Justice Paul Gilligan was told that Nigerian Benson Obi (38) was due to have been deported on last week's charter flight to his homeland but had won a last minute temporary injunction restraining the deportation.
Yesterday he won a further reprieve from deportation pending a full hearing of the case on October 10th next.
Mr Michael Forde, counsel for Mr Obi, said the State had successfully passed a Constitutional Amendment on the issue of Irish-born children and could no longer argue that citizenship laws were being abused.
He also said a preliminary finding at the European Court of Justice in the Chen case held that the parent of an EU citizen could not be deported unless they were incapable of supporting their child.
Mr Forde told the court that Mr Obi, who is living in Lucan, Co Dublin, had three Irish-born children under the age of three with his Senegalese born wife who was the subject of a separate deportation order.