26 September 2007

Justice

Free Movement of Persons

Ciarán Cuffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if he will review the European Communities (Free Movement of Persons) (No.2) Regulations 2006, implementing directive 2004/38/EC which require Regulation 3 (2) Non EU citizen family members to have resided in another EU Member State prior to arriving here to avail of residency rights.

Minister for Justice (Mr. Lenihan):

The compatibility of regulation 3(2) with the relevant European Directive as referred to by the Deputy was the subject of a High Court judgement on 28 May, 2007. The decision is now subject to an appeal to the Supreme Court and for that reason I am not in a position to comment further on the legal issues involved.