A Cork mother yesterday admitted she was very concerned about her 22-year-old son who has been charged with helping two young brothers escape from an immigration centre in Australia.
Mr Jonathan O'Shea has been accused of aiding and abetting the escape of the two boys three weeks ago from the controversial Woomera detention centre in south Australia.
The boys, Alamdar and Muntazer Baktiari, aged 14 and 12, who claim to be Afghan refugees, were among a group of 35 people who escaped from the centre.
Yesterday Ms Mary O'Shea, of Kilmoney Heights, Carrigaline, Cork, declined to discuss the charges facing her son as she feared it would have an impact on his case.
"We are very worried. It is a terrible time. I have spoken to Jonathan and he seems all right. But we are concerned about him and our privacy," she said.
Mr Gerry O'Sullivan, a neighbour of the O'Sheas in Carrigaline said: "He is a lovely lad. We are all in shock. He is such a nice, genuine guy and well liked."
The mass escape took place on June 29th. Mr O'Shea, who it is alleged was caught on tape holding a pair of wire cutters, is set to reappear in court next week, having been refused bail in the case.
Mr O'Shea is a graphic artist who has been travelling in a camper van in Australia on a one-year working visa.
The two young escapers were yesterday refused asylum at the British consulate in Melbourne.
Australian authorities have insisted the boys are not genuine refugees, and less than seven hours after they applied for asylum the British Home Secretary, Mr Jack Straw, rejected their claims.
The Home Office says people in Australia cannot claim asylum from Britain because of a reciprocal agreement between the two countries.
Following the refusal, immigration officials took the boys back to the remote Woomera refugee centre where their mother and her three other children are also detained.