No costs order in judicial review where naturalisation application had reached the ‘top of the queue’

Judicial review – asylum and immigration – costs of legal proceedings – Nigerian national granted leave to seek an Order compelling the Minister for Justice to make a decision on his application seeking permission to reside in the State based on his parentage of an Irish citizen child – Minister refused his application before substantive hearing – proceedings moot – sought his costs - correct approach to the costs of moot proceedings - whether or not there exists an “event” - Zambrano principle – why the proceedings became moot - argued that he is entitled as a matter of law to have a decision made on his application within a reasonable time – Minister stated that there was significant number of such claims before the Department and that those claims were being dealt with in strict chronological order – Minister’s decision was due to what was an external factor, namely the arrival of his application at the top of a queue - Minister’s decision was not made in direct response to the issue of the proceedings, hence there was no ‘event’ in this case – proceedings became moot by the unilateral action of the Minister - argued that the delay in making a decision was in breach of both his EU law right to good administration under Art. 41 of the CFEU and his child’s right to free movement within the EU as a Union citizen - State is not implementing Union law in deciding whether to grant a residence permission - misconception concerning the nature of the principle of equivalence – no order as to costs –