Up to 1,000 people protested outside the Dáil yesterday over the threatened deportation of immigrant parents of Irish citizens.
The majority of protesters were asylum-seekers, according to the rally organisers, Residents Against Racism. The group vowed to continue its protest and to step it up if mass deportations were threatened.
Since 2001, some 11,000 immigrant families have applied for residency on the basis that they are parents of Irish citizens, but earlier this year the Supreme Court ruled that such parents were not automatically entitled to residency.
During the summer, hundreds of families were issued with letters telling them the authorities wish to deport them and giving them three weeks to apply for leave to remain.
Ms Roseanna Flynn, Residents Against Racism spokeswoman, said children in these families had "as much a right to live in Ireland as anyone".
"They have a right to peaceful families here with their families," she added. She said she was extremely concerned that people were only given three weeks to appeal the deportation, at a time when most legal professionals were on holidays. "If we hear that mass deportations are being threatened, we will take to the streets again," she said.
"What else can we do?"
During the protest, a group of asylum-seekers handed in a letter of protest to the Dáil, for the attention of Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell.
