S.A v The Minister for Justice and Equality (Approved)

1.������ In December, 2018, the Court of Appeal rejected the proposition that a student permission is a grant of settled status, and that deportation of a person in possession of such a permission requires a proportionality assessment under art. 8 of the ECHR (leaving aside for such purposes the inevitable possibility of exceptional circumstances): Rughoonauth� v. Minister for Justice and Equalit y [2018] IECA 392 (Unreported, Court of Appeal, Peart J. (McGovern and Baker JJ. concurring), 5th December, 2018).

2.������ In June, 2019, the Supreme Court refused leave to appeal : Rughoonauth v. Minister for Justice and Equality [2019] IESCDET 124 (Unreported, Supreme Court, 13th June, 2019); Omrawoo v. The Minister for Justice and Equality [2019] IESCDET 155 (Unreported, Supreme Court, 25th June, 2019).

3.������ One year on, the present applicant seeks to re-run the point on comparable facts, on the basis of an academic distinction between the low-water-mark of the precise wording used in the particular decision as against the high-water-mark of some of the more general language used , obiter , by the Court of Appeal. Unfortunately, the point is not really any more appealing the second time around.�

4.������ The applicant was born in Pakistan in 1971 and was a citizen of that country by birth.� He moved to South Africa in 2003 and was granted South African citizenship in 2005 on foot of a marriage there.� He states that this resulted in the loss of his Pakistani citizenship.� He divorced later in 2005.� In July 2013 he states that he converted to Christianity from Islam, which he says created a danger to him from the Muslim community in South Africa from which he had to flee.

7.������ The statement of grounds was filed on 14th December, 2018 the primary relief sought being an order of certiorari directed to the decision of the Minister of 8th November, 2018 refusing to grant permission to remain under s. 49(4)(b) of the International Protection Act 2015.� I granted leave on 17th December, 2018.