Irish citizen children rally at Dáil to keep their immigrant dads here

dublin | migration | news report Friday July 10, 2009 01:42 by Residents Against Racism rar.info at yahoo dot ie

As the Dáil drew to a close, a group of Irish citizen children gathered to deliver a heartfelt message to Minister Dermot Ahern: please don't send our daddies away.

They were highlighting the situation of a group of fathers of children born in Ireland before 1st January 2005 who currently live in the country a state of legal limbo - and with the ever-present threat of deportation.

"These children are Irish citizens," says Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism. "There aren't two different kinds of Irish citizens, there's just one kind and under the constitution they're entitled to be cherished equally and have both of their parents caring for them. This is the final group of fathers, a few hundred in number, who need their status resolved. Each new round of deportations increases the anxieties they already live under. Now, as TDs begin their summer holidays with their families, we're asking the Minister to make sure this isn't the last summer these children get to spend with their dads."