REVIEW OF DEPORTATION PROCEDURE NEEDED

BROPHY SOLICITORS strongly urges the Minister to review the conduct and manner in which deportations are carried out in Ireland. The decision to detain a young mother for deportation hours after she suffered a miscarriage is appalling to say the least. The incident was reported by Carl O’Brien in the Irish Times last Wednesday.  

This situation highlights the often inhumane and unjust way in which deportations of men, women and children are handled by the State.  All deportees should be treated with decency and with respect.  The trauma that this young woman suffered is unimaginable. 

Unfortunately we have come across upsetting cases concerning the removal of individuals from the State.  One particular case that we are still actively pursuing concerns a family, the children and father of which were subjects of a deportation order earlier this year.  The case has been resolved and the family has been granted the right to reside in the State.  Without going into the particulars of their case, we were concerned at the manner in which the children, who are also siblings of an Irish child and children of a lawfully resident parent, were treated following their removal from the family home.  

Their father commented: ‘Words are not enough to give a vivid account of how the family felt when the government came to deport three of my children very early in the morning of the 15th of December 2010.  Our happiness turned into sorrow, pain and anguish. The children and my wife were devastated. They were not allowed to brush their teeth or take their bath. We hurriedly packed our things and followed seven GNIB officers onto the bus outside. My little daughter cried all through the day and was crying for her siblings who were taken away from her with her father who has been a necessary support to her. The treatment by the State and the then Minister of Justice made us believe there was no human rights in Ireland. The children will live with the trauma of that ugly chapter for the rest of their lives.   The family was totally devastated and remain traumatised to date.’

In the end the deportation did not go ahead due to the speedy actions of the family’s solicitor at that time.  Thankfully all three children have now been granted permission to reside in the State after submissions were made to the Minister in respect of their lawfully resident mother and father and Irish sibling who are all residing in the State.   All three children have suffered difficulties in school and attend counselling as a result of how they were treated.

Brophy Solicitors

25.08.11