A Syrian man living in Kilkenny has been on hunger strike since last Sunday morning protesting at alleged delays by the Department of Justice in processing his application to bring his wife to Ireland.
Ameen Banko, a Kurdish refugee who is employed as a house-painter, has stopped going to work and says he "will not eat until I find out when my wife will be here".
Mr Banko, who arrived in Ireland in 2003, was granted refugee status and permission to live and work here by the department in March 2005. The following August, he says, he applied to the Refugee Applications Commissioner in Dublin for "family reunification".
A banner at the house in Kilkenny, which he shares with another Syrian man, claims that he has "sent many letters to justice to find out what happened to my application but so far no reply after 14 months".
Documents seen by The Irish Times show that Mr Banko got married "by proxy" to a woman in Syria while he was living in Kilkenny. A document from the office of a "sworn translator" in Damascus states that Mr Banko (32) married Nisrin Shikhi (24) at the Islamic Sharia court in the city of Al Hasakah on May 26th, 2005. Mr Banko was represented at the ceremony by his solicitor, Mousa Othman, "acting by special power of Yahya Mohammad Al Hussein, president of the Islamic Foundation of Ireland".
The dowry was 500 Syrian pounds (€7.70) (paid) with a further 500 Syrian pounds (deferred). The certificate claims the marriage was "legalised by the Ministry of Justice of the Syrian Arab Republic" and is signed and stamped by the honorary consul of Ireland in Syria.
Mr Banko says marriages of this kind are common among the Kurdish diaspora. Last month he flew to Turkey to meet his wife who had travelled there from Syria. He returned to Kilkenny and she to Syria. The couple do not have any children.
Mr Banko, who is from Amuda, near the border with Iraq and Turkey, claims he left Syria because he had been imprisoned twice for political activity and treated badly. After arriving in Ireland by ship, he "took a taxi to the immigration office" which sent him to Kilkenny where he lived in a hostel and was given €20 a week.
Mr Banko received a letter from the family reunification office of the Refugee Applications Commission on July 21st informing him that his application had been sent to the department for a decision.
A department spokeswoman said it did not comment on individual cases. It is believed applications for family reunification take between 18 and 24 months to process.