The Departmental Solicitor's Office (DSO) sent correspondence to the journalist on behalf of the Chief Medical Officer Dr Michael McBride.
A total of 7,455 people were refused entry at Irish ports, airports and the land border in 2019, according to figures published by Eurostat.
This figure, from the Department for Economy (DfE), makes up almost 8.5% of the total number of homes in Northern Ireland.
Delivering the verdict, Sir Declan Morgan stated that the conduct of the hearing to obtain the search warrants fell “woefully short” of the required standard.
Numbers of people in employment are to the nearest hundred thousand. Numbers for each year were taken in the first quarter of each year in question.