Another second-level school has appealed to the Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, not to deport one of its leading pupils after his bid for asylum status was turned down.
Mount Temple comprehensive school at Malahide Road, Dublin, has made representations to the Minister about a Nigerian student, Mr Olasupo Olorunyomi, who is due to sit his Leaving Cert in June. If he gets the points he hopes to study medicine at university.
The principal of the school, Mr Maurice Maxwell, said it was ironic that the Government seemed prepared to deport a pupil like Mr Olorunyomi, who was good at maths and science, at a time when it was trying to promote these areas among students. He said Olasupo was under stress like all Leaving Cert students and the prospect of deportation was badly affecting his study.
The pupil told The Irish Times: "I can't study the way I used to. I am waiting for this letter about deportation and it is making me very depressed." He said he did not want to return to Nigeria and had made many friends in the school.
Mr Maxwell said Olasupo had to leave Nigeria because of religious persecution and his education was consequently interrupted. "It would be a shame with a few months to go to his Leaving Cert if that happened again. I know it worries him terribly," he said.
Last week another school, St Killians's in Bray, publicly appealed to Mr O'Donoghue about one of its students, Ms Elena Cernei, originally from Moldova. Her file is currently before the Minister.
According to legal sources working with asylum-seekers, there are a large number of non-national students, some of them in Irish schools for several years, facing possible deportation.
Mr Olorunyomi, like the Moldovan girl, is involved in the Concern debating team. He is also a school prefect.
About 500 pupils in the school have signed a petition on his behalf and this has been forwarded to the Department of Justice. "This shows the respect they hold him in," said Mr Maxwell.
Mr Olorunyomi was recently turned down for asylum, as was his appeal. He is expecting a letter shortly notifying him of his deportation. He has no family in the Republic. The Department of Justice has refused to comment on the cases of individual asylum-seekers, although it has said the Minister, Mr O'Donoghue, is prepared to take humanitarian concerns into account when making a final decision.