Deportation of 'content and safe' African girl, 10, moves step closer after DNA test
The deportation by the authorities here of a ‘happy, safe, content and well cared for’ ten year old school girl back to Guinea in Africa has moved a step closer.
This follows High Court judge, Mr Justice David Keane refusing an application for a judicial review of a decision by the Minster for Justice to refuse permission for the child to reside in the State as a family member.
The girl told a social worker from TUSLA she is happy here and doesn’t wish to return to Guinea.
The decision by Mr Justice Keane follows the girl's purported father failing to successfully challenge the results of a State-ordered DNA test which found that he is not the father of the girl.
The child was only allowed enter the country in the Summer of 2015 by the Minster for Justice on a temporary basis for the express purpose of conducting the DNA test to determine if she was the daughter of the Guinean man living here
The man had applied in May 2014 that the girl be allowed come to Ireland and live here as part of a family reunification programme.
The 31 year old man is a naturalised Irish citizen having arriving here in 2003 as a teenager and subsequently secured refugee status.
The man - married here in 2012 and has one child born in 2015 from that marriage - made the family reunification application for the ten year old girl he claimed is his daughter born in 2009 from a previous relationship with a woman in Guinea.
However in order for the re-unification application to succeed, the Minister for Justice required that the DNA test be carried out to determine if the Guinea man was the father of the girl.
The girl arrived here from Guinea on July 15th 2015 for the DNA test to be carried out after securing a three month temporary visa.
The man and the girl each provided DNA samples at a medical centre in Dublin in August 2015 to determine paternity and the results show that the man is not the father of the girl.
The DNA results show that the man is 100 times more likely related to the girl “as an uncle or grandfather than if they were unrelated”.
In December 2015, the Guinea man secured an injunction preventing the Minister for Justice deporting the girl pending the determination of the man’s Judicial Review application of the Minister’s decision in September 2015 to refuse permission for the girl to remain here.
In the refusal letter, the Minister stated that the applicant had failed to establish the identity of the girl, his relationship with her and as such the Minister could not be satisfied that the girl is member of the family of the applicant
Solicitor for the applicant told the court that the girl’s mother died in a road crash in The Gambia in January 2016 - six months after the arrival of the girl into Ireland.
In an affidavit, the solicitor also expressed the view that the result of the DNA test in the case “is implausible” because there is material on the Internet that suggests false negative test results can and do occur, so that the Minister should simply disregard that test result and conclude instead that the applicant is the girl’s father.
The girl has remained here since July 2015 and continues to live with the applicant’s family and attends primary school here.
A TUSLA report on the family following a visit to the home in July 2016 observed "a close and comfortable relationship between the girl and the applicant".
The TUSLA report stated that "the girl expressed that she is very happy living with her “father and mother” and that she does not wish to return to live in Guinea".
The girl told the TUSLA social worker that “she is happiest now in her father’s care and that this what she has always wanted”.
The TUSLA report states that the girl “presents as a content, well stimulated and bright child. The home was noted to be appropriate, clean and well kept. There were no child protection concerns”.
A further TUSLA report from a social work visit to the home in February 2017 stated that the girl “appeared happy, safe and well-cared for and expressed her wish to remain living with the family”.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Keane said that no scientific evidence has been put forward by the applicant that the DNA testing was flawed.
Mr Justice Keane stated: “There is no principle of law whereby an administrative decision is invalidated for failure to consider the possible existence and effect of evidence beyond that properly before the decision-maker."
On the best interests of the child argument for the child to remain, Mr Justice Keane stated "that there is no reason to suppose that the Minister will not comply with that obligation if required to consider the exercise of any such discretion" in the case of the girl.
Mr Justice Keane also stated that the Minister for Justice's application to have TUSLA joined in the proceedings "was misconceived".
