ABOUT 100 asylum seekers, many of whom face deportation, marched to the Dáil and the Department of Justice yesterday to demand they be allowed to stay in the country to help look after their Irish-born children.
The protest, organised by NGO Residents Against Racism, highlighted the plight of dozens of families split up in recent months following the deportation of the fathers of Irish citizens.
“In a time of severe cutbacks, the Government has found thousands of euro to fill two deportation flights already this month,” said Rosanna Flynn, spokeswoman for Residents Against Racism.
“Both flights included parents of Irish citizens, spouses of Irish citizens and people who had not exhausted the legal process of appealing against deportation.”
She said it was incredible to believe the Government was deporting people to Afghanistan and Iraq, which were war zones.
One protester, Alfred, said he arrived in the Republic four years ago to join his wife and his three children. “I have now been served with a deportation order and could be sent back to Nigeria at any time.” Alfred’s children were born before the citizenship referendum in 2004, which overturned the automatic right to citizenship for children born in the Republic.
This means they have the right to stay in the Republic with their mother, however, many fathers who travelled to join their wives can face deportation. NGOs estimate that 600-1,000 parents of children with Irish citizenship are currently in this position.