The High Court today began hearing two cases of asylum seekers who have children born in the country but have been refused the right to apply for asylum in Ireland.
A Nigerian man and a Czech couple who have had children born in the State are challenging a decision to deport them made by the Minister for Justice.
Both children are automatically granted Irish citizenship. Counsel for the parents told the court today that to deport them was in contravention of Article 41 of the Constitution, which relates to protection of the family by the State.
The Minister is attempting to row back on a 1990 Supreme Court decision to grant residency to the parents of a child born in Ireland in the Fajujonu case, the court heard.
Counsel for the parents criticised the Minister for Justice for his "complete and abject failure to consider the applications lawfully and properly in the light of the constitutional rights in both cases."
He said that a child born in this country was entitled to all the rights of an Irish citizen, including the right to an Irish education, the right to the benefits of Irish health and social welfare, and the right to become president.
In both instances the authorities are utilising the Dublin Convention, which states that all asylum applicants must make their application in the first EU country possible, to implement the deportations. In both cases, the authorities wish to return the parents to the UK, where their asylum claims have already been refused.
Until now, non-nationals who have children born here have generally been granted residency in Ireland, regardless of the success or failure of their asylum applications. But in the two cases heard today, the authorities will try to break this link.
Last year, 2,474 asylum-seekers were granted leave to remain in Ireland on the basis that they were the parents of Irish-born children. This is up from 1,227 in 1999.
The outcome of today’s cases will have important implications for hundreds of other parents whose claims for refugee status are currently being processed or have failed.
The Department has not said how it would care for a child born here if the rest of his or her family is deported and chooses not to bring the child with them.
The case continues.