The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) have condemned the move by the Minister for Justice to prevent non-national parents of Irish children from applying for residency.
The groups say the decision runs roughshod over the rights of Irish child citizens and deliberately abdicates the duty of the Department to put in place a fair, transparent and human rights compliant asylum and immigration policy and process.
Reacting to the notice on the Department of Justice website, Ms Aisling Reidy, Director of the ICCL commented: "Far from what is implied by the Department of Justice, this move is not a necessary result of the Supreme Court decision in the Osayande and Lobe cases.
"However, those who were worried that the Department of Justice would react in a broad, arbitrary and unfair manner to that decision have had their fears confirmed by this decision of the Minister."
From today immigrant parents can no longer seek residency in Ireland on the basis of having Irish-born children.
After a Supreme Court judgment last month, non-EU immigrant parents no longer have an automatic right to remain in the Republic.
In recent years many immigrants entered Ireland as asylum seekers then claimed residency once they became parents in the State.
Last year more than 4,000 non-EU citizens were granted residency on the grounds of having Irish children.
The move to stop residency applications on the basis of parentage will not affect the 1,100 outstanding applications from parents of children born as far back as September 2001, a Department of Justice spokesman said.
Almost 90 per cent of these applications have been made by people who had been or still are asylum applicants.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has ruled out mass deportations of people whose applications are being processed, saying cases would be handled individually.
He has also indicated that the length of time the parents of Irish children have lived in the State would be a key factor in considering applications.
The ICCL and the IRC pointed out that the Supreme Court did not decide that non-national parents have no right to apply for residency.
"What the Minister should be doing in the wake of the Supreme Court decision, is putting in place a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory system that would assess on its merits, each case where an Irish child wishes to grow up in Ireland with its parents," added Ms Reidy
"Instead, incredibly, he has shut down the very avenue, which should have provided a fair determination of the balance between the constitutional rights of the child, and any competing interest of the State."
The ICCL noted that decision does not only impact on asylum seekers, but on all non-nationals who are here without residency status, for example on work permits. Now any non-national parents working in Ireland, who want to provide greater stability for Irish children they have, by applying for residency, have been deprived of the means of doing that.
Additional reporting PA