By Ray Managh

A 52-year-old father of four, until now facing imminent deportation for allegedly recruiting sympathisers in Ireland to fight for Islamic extremists in the Middle East, was today granted a stay on his deportation until tomorrow.

The man, who cannot be named for legal reasons, will ask the Court of Appeal tomorrow to overturn a High Court order lifting an injunction which had restrained his deportation to a Middle Eastern country.

Mr Justice Michael Peart, a judge of the Court of Appeal sitting alone, today granted the stay until a three-person court fully hears the man’s appeal at 2pm tomorrow.

Judge Peart was told that a team of lawyers led by Remy Farrell SC, counsel for the Department of Justice, and barrister Michael Lynn SC, counsel for the threatened deportee, would exchange and also hand into court all necessary documentation to facilitate tomorrow’s scheduled three-hour appeal.

Mr Lynn, who appeared with Conor O’Briain solicitors, said that on Monday an interim injunction granted on December 21 by the High Court and restraining the man’s deportation, had been lifted by Ms Justice Carmel Stewart who had refused a stay on her order.

His client’s case was that if he was returned to the Middle East he would arrested, detained and tortured. He denied acting on behalf of Isil or that he was a threat to national security here.

Mr Lynn said his client had been told he must leave the Irish State before December 30 and, failing to do that, must report to the Garda National Immigration Bureau by January 5 for deportation.

He told Judge Peart that arrangements were in place with a view to removing the man from the State before January 11 which had been the original return date for a High Court hearing of the interim injunction which had been in place until yesterday.

“The applicant could actually be removed from the State prior to that and the view we take is that he is at this moment facing imminent deportation,” Mr Lynn said.

Judge Peart said he would grant a stay on deportation until 2pm tomorrow in the Court of Appeal.

The man is seeking to overturn a decision of the High Court yesterday in which Ms Justice Carmel Stewart cleared the way for his imminent deportation by the Irish authorities to the Middle East.

The man is alleged by the Government to be the “main recruiter” in Ireland for Isil. He has been living in Ireland for the last 15 years and secured residency here on the basis of the birth of his 15-year-old son. In March last, due to the Government’s belief he was recruiting for Islamic extremists in Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq, he was told the Irish authorities intended to deport him.

On December 21 he obtained a High Court injunction restraining his deportation but that ruling, on an application by the Department for Justice yesterday was overturned by Ms Justice Stewart.

Judge Stewart said the question for the court was where the greater injustice lay - maintaining or lifting the injunction. The issue of a threat to national security was something she was entitled to take into account.

The man had been described in court yesterday as “the foremost organiser and facilitator of travel by extremists prepared to undertake violent action” on behalf of Isil.

He claims he is a bona fide refugee applicant who would suffer inhuman and degrading treatment, torture and “even fatal consequences” if returned to a Middle Eastern country.

Judge Stewart was told by a senior Department of Justice official that, based on intelligence amassed by Gardaí and their counterparts in other jurisdictions, the State believed the man was consulted by and gave directions to senior violent extremist leaders outside Ireland.

Judge Stewart, discharging the injunction previously granted to the man, said she took into account the very serious information the State had put before the court concerning his alleged activities.