AN IRISH woman who fled Saudi Arabia with two of her children after her husband brought a second wife into the marital home has brought High Court proceedings challenging a determination by the Minister for Social Protection that she is not entitled to social welfare payments.
Rosaleen Smith sought housing and supplementary welfare allowance after she arrived back in Ireland late last month.
However, she says her application was rejected after an official at a Dublin social welfare office informed her she was not habitually resident in the State.
Ms Smith disputes the Minister’s decision, which she says has left her with no rights to State services. Her lawyers claim her main centre of interest has been transferred to Ireland, that she is in fact and in law habitually resident here, and that she is entitled to the payments sought.
In proceedings against the Minister she is seeking an injunction compelling the Minister to pay her supplementary welfare allowance and rent allowance.
She is also seeking an order quashing the Minister’s refusal to grant her the allowance and seeking declarations including that she meets all the qualifying conditions for the said payments and is habitually resident in the State.
She is further seeking a declaration that the Minister erred in law when processing her application. The decision, she submits, was wrong in law, and was a breach of fair procedures, natural and constitutional justice.
The case was adjourned by Mr Justice Michael Hanna yesterday after lawyers for the Minister, who claims her proceedings are unnecessary, agreed to make an exceptional needs payment to Ms Smith.
In an affidavit Ms Smith (45) said she moved to Saudi Arabia in the mid-1980s, married a Saudi national and converted to Islam. The couple had five children together. She left Saudi Arabiawhen her domestic situation became “intolerable” after her husband without her knowledge married another woman, and moved her (the second wife) into the marital home.
She said she brought her two youngest children to Ireland under the pretence of visiting family here. If she were to seek a divorce from her husband he would, under Saudi law, automatically get full custody of the two children.
Since her arrival she and the children, who are both Irish citizens, have resided at a hostel in Glasnevin, Dublin, which she describes as “a place of last resort”. She wants to leave the hostel as she does not feel safe there. She has little money and nowhere else to go. Her parents are deceased and she is estranged from most of her family.
The Minister’s decision, she believes, is forcing her to choose between either “returning to Saudi Arabia” or “living in abject poverty in Ireland”. In addition, she cannot get on the homeless list because of the issue over whether she is habitually resident or not. As a result she has to reapply for accommodation on a nightly basis.
Yesterday at the High Court, lawyers for the Minister asked that the matter be adjourned so it could prepare an affidavit in response to Ms Smith’s claims. The Minister was prepared to make an exceptional needs payment to Ms Smith. Mr Justice Hanna adjourned the matter to a date later this month on the undertaking that the Minister would make a payment to Ms Smith.