I did write that.
The only place that lays out the requirements for "residence" (for EU citizens and their families) is in Directive 2004/38/EC. Take a look at
http://eumovement.wordpress.com/2007/06 ... -question/ for the actual extracts from the Directive and from Irish and UK transposition of this into their national law. There are
no preconditions that must be satisfied for residence of under 90 days (except for maybe a visa for people with certain passports). You just go. Don't need to work. Don't need to own propety. Can stay at a camp ground if you like camping.
Ireland does not say in its transposition of the Directive that the non EU family member must have been resident in another EU member state for a specific period of time (like for example a year). They simply that you must have been resident. (I suspect the Irish government know they are on thin ice already and intentionally tried to be vague).
An example of this in action is the wife of Erik84. After she came to Ireland, his wife was granted a residence permit to Sweden. They never actually went to Sweden to use it. Instead they referred to it as part of their carefully worded appeal, and were granted their requested EU1.
This is clearly not an automatic thing. They will likely say no and you will have to push. But it seems pretty clear cut, and worth using as one part of any application or any appeal.
Remember that they know they have a very hard legal position to defend. They have settled some cases and had to pay a lot of lawyers fees in the process. They are not going to want to get into more fights they will loose. Imagine them saying in court: "Your honor, even though the EU law and our own law refers to residence for a period of under 90 days, we do not think that counts as residence..."
