Minutes of Campaign Against Deportation of Irish Children

national | rights, freedoms and repression | news report Thursday September 23, 2004 18:34 by Mark Grehan - Residents Against Racism residentsagainstracsim at eircom dot net 12a Brunswick place, Dublin 2 087 7974622 or 087 6662060

Minutes of an organising meeting for a campaign against the deportation of irish Children

Next meeting this saturday at 2 o'clock in the Teachers club.

Minutes of an organising meeting for a campaign against the deportation of Irish children

Venue: Teachers' Club
Date: Saturday, 11th September 2004
Chair: Mark Grehan, Residents Against Racism.

Attendance: Over twenty people attended, including a group from Longford. Apologies were received from Cork and Galway.

1. Proposals for campaign and demonstration.

Mark introduced two proposals suggested by Residents Against Racism. 1) That a campaign should be organised to demand amnesty for the thousands of families facing deportation, despite having Irish children. 2) That a demonstration should be called on the 29th September to coincide with the re-opening of the Dáil.

2. Legal background to demand for amnesty

Ola gave a brief introduction on the legal situation following the January 2003 Supreme Court decision on residence rights. McDowell has clearly reneged on his promise to deal with each case individually and the number of deportations has increased significantly since the Citizenship Referendum on 11th June of this year. Despite the fact that many families were told to withdraw their asylum applications when their children were born, none of them have got letters giving them residence rights. There is an urgent need to find a solution to the problem because of the number of deportation letters being received. Already some Irish children have been deported along with their parents. Families outside Dublin often have difficulty gaining access to legal expertise and it was agreed that there is a need to set up support groups like RAR outside the larger urban areas.

3. Campaign proposals

After detailed discussion, a draft leaflet was agreed which would be used to enlist support for the demonstration and the subsequent campaign. Andreas will finalise the text and email it to the RAR and CARR lists for final approval. It was also agreed to cooperate with finding information for a series of Parliamentary Questions to the Minister for Justice about all the families with Irish children born before the Supreme Court judgement date. A group of TDs and trade union leaders who supported the demonstration at the Department of Health and Children have also agreed to set up an anti-deportation lobby group. Other efforts will also be undertaken to enlist the help of opposition TDs in highlighting the reality of deportations. Some individuals will lodge an appeal to the Human Rights Commission to launch an enquiry into the deportations and how they are conducted.

4. Future organisation

It was agreed that there was no need to have a separate group and that organisation would continue to be coordinated by RAR. However, organising meetings for the campaign against deportations would be held separately to regular RAR meetings. A media campaign will focus on expanding opposition to deportations in areas outside Dublin, especially in Longford where there is already organised< anti-racist activity.

5. Next meeting

The next meeting will be held in the Teachers' Club on Saturday, 25th September.

6. Protest

A protest is being organised for Wednesday 29th September, the first day back for the Dáil after the summer break. The protest will commence by gathering at the Central Bank at 12.30 where the crowd will be addressed by several speakers. A march will commence up to the Dail where the crowd will gather and be addressed by several speakers.