Deported Nigerian woman has to leave child behind

by sickened by mac do well Fri Aug 27, 2004 13:43

Cut and paste from Unison.ie as it requires registration
 
THREE Irish-born children were among 28 people deported to Nigeria early yesterday morning on a plane chartered by the Department of Justice at a cost of €248,610.

One of those deported was a woman who was reportedly in a distressed state while boarding the plane, having left her Irish-born child behind in the company of her partner.

Another was a 20-year-old youth who had arrived in Ireland as an unaccompanied minor three years ago and who leaves behind his younger sister. He has no immediate relations in Nigeria.

A spokesperson for the Garda National Immigration Bureau said 40 garda were involved in the deportation operation and travelled with the group of failed asylum seekers on the eight-hour flight to Lagos.

Peter O'Mahony of the Irish Refugee Council said he had heard that all the deported had to pay an "unusually small" bribe of around €25 to be allowed re-entry to their home country via the airport.

Any of those who knew they were going to be deported would have been aware of the necessity to carry money for this purpose or risk being thrown into prison, he said.

Mr O'Mahony said gardai appeared to have followed such of the council's guidelines on deportations as allowing people to contact a solicitor on their mobile phones.

Issues regarding some of those on a previous chartered flight to Lagos is still before the High Court. Six people deported on April 7 are seeking leave to return here on the basis that a last-minute order to bring them before the High Court was not complied with.

An injunction by Mr Justice Gilligan in the High Court was given less than two hours before they were to leave Dublin Airport.

However, the gardai on board the flight deny they were made aware of its existence and the State denies this information was deliberately withheld from them.

Judgment has been reserved in the matter.

A total of 386 people have so far been deported this year. Last year, 590 people were deported, with a further 1,174 recognised as refugees.

Of those recognised last year, 101 were Nigerians. The second largest group was from the Democratic Republic of Congo (59) followed by Moldova (51), while 37 Romanians also gained refugee status.

Mr O'Mahony said most of the 60 to 70 people deported each month were put on individual flights rather than on charter planes.

Nicola Anderson

by Freddy Fri Aug 27, 2004 14:20

The gardai are up to their tricks again, pretending to be unaware of judicial decisions. Only last week it came out in court that a few months ago they had destroyed a fax informing them about an injunction which would have prevented them from deporting about seven people. How many other cases do we never hear about, I wonder?
That kind of behaviour from the gardai is a reflection of the old "nod & wink" behaviour we are all familiar with from the politicians.

by paulc Fri Aug 27, 2004 16:14

didn't the lawyer say that , saying he faxes were destroyed was "harsh"??

by being a bening jedi on occasion Sun Aug 29, 2004 04:41

assure the workers of Ireland, that in future they will not be held hostage in overseas in increasingly politicised terrorist actions presently attributed to islamic fundamentalist groups.

In short, when will something nasty happen to an Irishboy or girl in Nigeria?