THE IRISH Refugee Council (IRC) has criticised the deportation yesterday of Nigerian asylum seekers who claimed they were mistreated on a previous, unsuccessful deportation flight, before the allegations have been fully investigated.
The IRC says a group of 35 failed asylum seekers, which included 12 children and one Irish citizen child, were subjected to “inhumane and degrading treatment” by immigration officers during the deportation flight last December.
The asylum seekers were flown to Athens on December 15th on a flight chartered by the EU agency Frontex. The plane developed engine trouble and the asylum seekers returned to Dublin on scheduled flights a day later.
The council says it has first-hand testimony of the harsh treatment of women and children on the flight, including the handcuffing of one mother of two children for more than 24 hours. It alleged officers used restraints on her chest and legs and that she was sedated, causing distress to her children, one of whom is an Irish citizen.
The Garda Síochána Ombudsman Commission has ruled admissible three complaints from women with children who were on the flight. The IRC said it understood these women were not on the flight that left yesterday evening but all others on the December flight were.
“The failure by the Department of Justice to properly address the serious concerns raised about the conduct of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) on the flight of December 15th raises the question as to whether the Department was keen to have this group out of the way so that they cannot continue to embarrass the authorities,” said IRC chief executive Sue Conlan.
Last month, several parliamentary questions about the allegations were submitted to then minister for justice Dermot Ahern, including one about whether the treatment of the group complied with Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Mr Ahern said he was satisfied that the December deportation had been “properly conducted” and accordingly he would not be establishing an independent inquiry into the flight. Ms Conlan said Mr Ahern’s reply did not address the allegations made.
“Instead, his reply equated the disruption to the deportees with passengers on a commercial flight which does not fly according to plan. His biggest concern appeared to be the technical fault which the plane on December 15th developed and to try therefore to ensure that there was no repetition,” she said.
Since their return to Ireland on December 16th, the group had been required to live at Balseskin Reception Centre in north Dublin and report weekly to the GNIB. They were picked up early yesterday and taken to Dublin airport, where their chartered Frontex flight departed shortly after 6pm. On board were a number of other failed asylum seekers. According to campaigners, those deported included Samson Adeoye, whose Irish wife Jacqui is pregnant with their child; and another Nigerian man, Pantaeleon Agbath, who has three children with Irish citizenship.