A challenge by the Sligo-based Nigerian woman Pamela Izevbekhai to her deportation has been adjourned again after the Supreme Court raised new legal questions about her appeal.
The court has asked both sides in the case for submissions on whether or not she was entitled to take a case under legislation which was brought into effect after her deportation order was signed.
The move will mean a further delay in a decision on Ms Isevbekhai's five-year battle against deportation.
The State is challenging her appeal on the grounds that fraudulent documents were used in her High Court case.
Lawyers for the State told the Supreme Court this morning that Ms Isevbekhai had now accepted that a second set of documents were not genuine but were obtained in good faith.
Ms Izevbekhai claims her first-born daughter died as a result of female genital mutilation and her other daughters would be at risk if returned to Nigeria.
Chief Justice John Murray said there was ‘almost a jurisdictional’ issue to be argued, referring to a regulation which came into effect in October 2006.
Ms Izevbekhai's deportation order pre-dates the regulation. The case was adjourned for three weeks to allow both sides to prepare submissions.
