The American mother of a four-year-old boy has secured leave to bring a High Court challenge to a decision that she can only remain in the State if she puts her child into a fee-paying rather than a State school.
Erin Britton, who is a second-year student in a master's programme in medieval studies at NUI Galway, was told last month by the Garda National Immigration Bureau that her permission to remain here would not be renewed because her son, Aidan, was enrolled in a non-fee paying school, Claddagh National School in Galway.
When she contacted the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform, she was told again, by a person identifying herself only by her first name, that she had no option but to put her child into a fee-paying private school if she wanted to stay, Ms Britton said.
Otherwise, she was told both she and Aidan would be deported.
Yesterday, Siobhán Phelan (instructed by Hilkka Becker, solicitor for the Immigrant Council of Ireland) told the court the child had been put into a private school but this was not where his parents wanted him to be educated.
Mr Justice George Birmingham granted leave to seek a judicial review of the decision and adjourned the case to next month.
In her proceedings, Ms Britton is seeking declarations that the Minister for Justice had acted unlawfully by making it a condition of her permit renewal that her son go to a private school.
She claims she has a legitimate expectation to remain here to complete her studies without such a condition.
She also wants a declaration that her child is entitled to avail of free education under the 1998 Education Act, under the Constitution and under the European Convention on Human Rights Act, 2003.
She claims the Minister for Justice took "irrelevant considerations" into account when refusing to renew her residency permit.
There was also no statutory basis for the decision, it is contended.
In an affidavit, Ms Britton, whose husband is living in America pursuing a master's degree at Washington University, St Louis, said the couple had made the sacrifice of enforced separation to pursue their studies which were very important to them.
Her studies involved a thesis on an archaeological site in the Burren in Co Clare.
She said she was not in any way dependent on the State and had US student loans to provide for her here.
She pays approximately €12,000 per year in university fees and is in the second year of a two-year programme.
As a result of the "threat" to her permission to remain, she withdrew her child from the Claddagh school on December 3rd last, a decision which caused great upset.
Ms Britton made inquiries about private schools which would cost thousands of euro and put pressure on already stretched family resources.
Her son has since been put into a private school but she did not feel it was appropriate for him.
She said she was faced with the choice of abandoning her studies which are at an advanced stage.
Her husband, who arrived in Ireland on December 10th, had also encountered difficulties at the airport because of her status and he was told it would be very difficult for him to enter the State again.
Ms Britton also said that she had been placed in an "appalling position" of having to sacrifice her studies or her son's education.