A Cork solicitor who wants to marry a Ukrainian woman he met through the Charismatic movement was yesterday refused leave by the High Court to take a legal challenge to the Department of Justice's refusal to grant her a tourist visa to visit Ireland.
Mr Denis Linehan (48), of The Studio, Summerstown Grove, Wilton, Cork, said he would appeal the High Court decision to the Supreme Court.
After yesterday's hearing Mr Linehan said he had come into contact with Ms Larisa Balitskaya (35) through the Charismatic movement. They had been communicating since 1997 and had been in contact by telephone, e-mail and letter.
They had first met last year, hoped to marry within a couple of months and would have to do so outside Ireland, possibly in Poland or Ukraine, if she could not come to Ireland. He would appeal yesterday's decision in an effort to get a visa for her.
Mr Linehan said Ms Balitskaya had never been to Ireland and he hoped she could come to see the country and meet his parents. Because she had been unable to come, they had had to meet abroad. Last week they had met in Poland, which involved considerable expense.
In his proceedings against the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform and the State, Mr Linehan argued the refusal of the visa was discriminatory and a breach of both fair procedures and the natural, legal and constitutional rights of himself and Ms Balitskaya.
He also argued the refusal was in breach of their rights under the European Convention on Human Rights.
Claiming that the refusal of the visa was discriminatory, Mr Linehan, in an affidavit, said one needed only to consider the numerous visitors' visas issued "more or less automatically to all nationalities". He contended that US student backpackers with no connection with Ireland were being treated more favourably than Ms Balitskaya.
He further argued that there was a natural and constitutional right to marry which had been repeatedly recognised by the courts. There was an express right to marry guaranteed by Article 12 of the European Convention. Article 8 of that Convention protected family life, which included de facto family relations.
Mr Linehan, who presented his case himself, told Mr Justice O Caoimh that the reply to the application for a visitor's visa had stated that Ms Balitskaya had no connection with Ireland and suggested that he and Ms Balitskaya did not seem to have a substantial relationship. She had travelled from Ukraine to Moscow, where there is an Irish Embassy, to submit her application, he added.
Turning down the application for leave to seek judicial review of the visa refusal, the judge said he took the view that Mr Linehan did not have the locus standi to bring an application on behalf of Ms Balitskaya. Having considered the papers in the case and the affidavit grounding the application, he also did not consider Mr Linehan had made an arguable case.