State couldn't fund Derry woman's legal battle over her 'foreign jurisdiction'

Emma DeSouza and her US-born husband Jake recently won a legal fight under the principles of the Good Friday Agreement. Picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

An Irish government official told a Derry woman that the State couldn't fund her legal fight because of her "foreign jurisdiction".

Emma De Souza and her husband Jake recently won a legal fight under the principles of the Good Friday Agreement.

The pair took the case after the UK Home Office rejected their application for a residence card for her American husband on the basis that the British state considered her a British citizen because she was born in Northern Ireland. The Home Office suggested she reapply by identifying herself as British or renounce her UK citizenship and reapply as an Irish citizen.

The case was finally resolved in May this year when the couple secured a concession under the principles of the Good Friday Agreement.

Both parties were directed to cover their own costs in the case.

The couple need to pay back around £80,000, for which they have crowdfunded the majority.

However, there had been consistent calls for the Irish Government to pay the legal costs as Ms DeSouza won her battle on behalf of all Irish citizens in Northern Ireland, including from Fianna Fáil MEP Billy Kelleher and Fine Gael TD Neale Richmond.

Ms De Souza says she was called by Kevin Conmy, joint secretary at Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade earlier this week where he told her that the Irish would not be contributing to her legal fees.

"He called telling me that they would be responding in writing that they couldn't provide any legal assistance in a case in a foreign jurisdiction," Ms DeSouza said.

"That's not the first time we've heard that, their view is; in I'm in the North, I'm in the United Kingdom.

I try and be diplomatic but Jake had more choice words.

"We should not have to stand up for the Good Friday Agreement, we're not the co-guarantors of that agreement, what we had been doing is defending the Irish Government's position.

"Especially when we're looking at the possibility of Brexit and citizens are worried about their rights and know they have no practical support, it makes people uneasy."

Ms DeSouza says that as an Irish woman, she feels disheartened that because of being from the north of Ireland, she is not considered equal.

"Up in here in the North, we already fight for our identity and to be accepted as Irish," she said.

"We took this position for everyone and we are grateful for the political and moral support but that doesn't pay the bills, we feel alone."

In a parliamentary question to Mr Richmond, from the Minister of Foreign Affairs Simon Coveney, the Government reiterated it would not be contributing to the costs.

"The Government has however always been clear that the legal case taken by Emma and Jake DeSouza in the UK courts was a private case in respect of an immigration application, and decisions on the litigation have always been a matter for them, in consultation with their solicitor. Accordingly, and in line with normal practice, the State will not be contributing to the legal fees," he said.

Ms DeSouza says she feels the Irish Government are shirking responsibility.

"I take issue with the response he has written that it was a private citizens case, it should never have fallen to us," she said.

"The idea that responsibility for the GFA fell to us or that we had a choice, is not true.

"We didn't intend to take on a five-year court battle, and instead of walking away when we resolved Jake's status, we kept on, we knew it would bring about change for everyone. 

They're shirking responsibility.

"The narrative put out now is that we were private citizens, the framing of the immigration application is trying to shirk responsibility, it wasn't about immigration for a long time, Jake's case was resolved two years ago."

A number of politicians from across the political spectrum have donated personally to Emma and Jake's gofundme. You can donate here.