Europe’s highest court has ruled that spouses of European Union citizens who are not themselves citizens of the EU may live in Ireland.
The case involved four couples who appealed a decision by the Government to deport them because the husband in each case is not an EU citizen and has never lived lawfully in another EU state.
The ruling delivered this morning by the European Court of Justice said Irish laws, requiring a spouse from a outside the EU to have lived in another member state, were incompatible with a directive on the free movement of EU citizens.
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/breaking/2008/0725/breaking40.htm
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The EU are going out of their way to destroy any form of nationalism. They are turning Ireland into an ethnic melting pot and our Government are standing idly by and letting it happen.
Maybe you are referring to another judgment ... the European Court of Justice confirmed that Ireland can continue taking measures against scam marriages but is prevented from assuming that every single marriage for which Ireland is the first Member State of entry of the third country member is a marriage of convenience. While this may be true in some cases, it is plainly wrong to apply to all couples. This is a clear case of 'presumption of a collective guilt'.
Nobody is assuming that "all" are scams.
Yes, of course the Irish legislator assumed that and that is why Regulation 3(2) of the 2006 Regulations makes the right of residence in Ireland conditional upon having a lawful residence in another Member State prior to arrival to Ireland.
This was introduced to fight against marriages of convenience but it caused a lot of collateral damage.
A British national residing in Ireland and falling in love with a US national studying there would never be able to have her US spouse's Treaty right of residence in Ireland recognised because Ireland was poor US national's first Member State of entry. That was the perverse effect of the Irish requirement.
They still have - and always had - the powers to check whether a particular marriage is one of convenience and should that be established, they can withdraw or terminate any Treaty rights but they just decided to make their life easier by assuming that every newcomer is a cheater and should not be granted any rights.
The Irish grip on immigration control remains effective but has to be used in a different way, by checking individual cases where there are doubts as to whether it is genuine.
Assuming every newcomer is a cheater is not a bad idea, there have been some recent cases uncovered of criminal rings arranging scam marriages between Eastern European immigrants and Asians.
Our police resources would be better utilised serving the Irish people than by investigatng immigrant crime, crime that should not get into the country in the first place.
As I said in my first comment, the EU are destroying nationalism.
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