AT LEAST 12 Irish citizen children left the country this year because one of their parents has been deported by the Government for breaking immigration law.
The figures were released yesterday by the Department of Justice following two prominent High Court appeals against deportation orders by the parents of Irish citizen children in the past 10 days.
The first case involves Abigail Hurley, the 20-month-old daughter of Gerard and Caroline Hurley.
Abigail is an Irish citizen because her father Gerard was born and reared in Cork.
Her mother Caroline – a Nigerian asylum seeker who married Gerard in 2007 – was served with a deportation order in 2005 following the rejection of her asylum claim.
She lost her legal appeal last week and now faces imminent deportation. She says she has decided to take Abigail back to Nigeria with her if she is deported.
A second case involves a single mother from Brazil, whose son is an Irish citizen because of his father. A High Court judge reserved judgment in the case earlier this week.
Children’s rights and immigration lobby groups have criticised the Government over its immigration policy, which they say is leading to the “de facto deportation” of Irish citizens.
Norah Gibbons, of Barnardos, said the decision to deport Caroline Hurley was “appalling” because it left the parents with a horrific decision to make about where their child should live.
She believed the policy was in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by separating children from parents.
“The Government didn’t tell us when we had the citizenship referendum that we would end up effectively deporting Irish citizens,” said Ms Gibbons.
A Department of Justice spokeswoman said no Irish citizens under 18 years of age are deported and all left the State in the company of a parent.
In each case involving Irish citizen children, the department balances the rights of the Irish citizen child against the right of the State to maintain control of its borders before issuing a decision.
Hilkka Becker, solicitor with the Immigrant Council of Ireland, warned the “effective expulsion” of Irish citizen children through the deportation of a parent may be contrary to the European Convention on Human Rights and could leave the Government open to future legal consequences.
Fine Gael justice spokesman Alan Shatter said the welfare of the Irish citizen child needed to be given more prominence when decisions are taken.