More than 500 people were prosecuted in the past four years under a provision of the Immigration Act which was struck down as unconstitutional by the High Court last Friday.

In a ruling, president of the High Court Mr Justice Nicholas Kearns said the legislation under which it was a criminal offence for a non-national to fail to produce, without ‘‘a satisfactory explanation’’, passport or other identity documents on demand by gardaí was not in keeping with the Constitution.

Those prosecuted under the act faced a maximum of one year in prison and/or a €3,000 fine.

The challenge was brought by a west African woman to Section 12 of the Immigration Act 2004.That section required that non-Irish persons should produce a valid form of identity on demand by gardaí.

The court said the requirement for a ‘‘satisfactory explanation’’ was too vague and open to wide interpretation, considering that a breach of the section was a criminal offence.

According to the Central Statistics Office, just six people were prosecuted under the legislation in 2006; the following year more than 150 people were prosecuted under this section.

The figure rose to more than 250 by 2008.

Angel Bello Cortes – the solicitor at Dublin firm Kelleher O’Doherty Solicitors, which brought the challenge on behalf of the west African woman – said the section had been used ‘‘extensively’’ in recent years.

Anyone currently awaiting a court appearance under the section can now apply for an order for their case to be struck out on the basis that the section under which they were arrested is void and no longer law.

However, Cortes said it was unlikely that the hundreds of people prosecuted under this section would have an actionable civil case against the state, as the legislation would have had a presumption of constitutionality when it was used.

The state had argued in favour of the retention of Section 12 for control and regulation of the entry of non-nationals into the state.

The woman was arrested at Dublin Airport in April 2008 when she, her daughter and two young boys arrived on a flight from Nigeria and attempted to enter the state without any passports.

She claims she is from Liberia but that her passport was destroyed in a fire.

However, the judge rejected a further argument put forward by the woman that Section 12 was unconstitutional on the grounds that it was a disproportionate measure.

The judge said there was a ‘‘manifest need’’ for such measures to regulate the entry into the state of undocumented people from outside the country.

This Article appeared in the Post.ie on 27 March 2011 By John Burke Public Affairs Correspondent