Mr. Fintan Butler:

The argument which prevailed in the Northern Ireland High Court was that the family should not be returned to Ireland, which would be the usual rule following the EU rules on asylum, because the court was not satisfied that the best interests of the children in this case would be served by returning them to the kind of circumstances to which they would be returning if that were to happen. Essentially, it was a comment on the inadequacy of the circumstances and facilities for asylum seekers in Ireland.