A group of Nigerians demonstrated today against a repatriation deal they believe will see their country of birth "paid off" by the Government in exchange for speeding up the expulsion of failed asylum-seekers.
The protest was organised by Residents against Racism and included representatives of the Union of Nigerian Citizens Resident in Ireland (UNCRI).
They handed in a letter of protest at the Department of Justice today and then proceeded to the Nigerian embassy where they were met by officials at the gates of the building.
A repatriation pact with Nigeria is to be signed by the Minister of Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, next week. Ireland has similar agreements with Poland and Romania.
Nigerians claim the Government are giving £8.8 million in aid to coax Nigeria into the deal but this has been strenuously denied by both governments.
Under the Ireland Aid programme, Nigeria received £450,000 last year and will receive more in the coming years in line with other countries who will benefit from a considerable increase in the funding of the programme.
However, Nigeria is not one of Ireland Aid's priority countries and the Department of Foreign Affairs has dimissed the figure of nearly £9 million.
During the protest outside the Nigerian embassy this afternoon, where the letter sent to Mr O'Donoghue was also delivered, demonstrators claimed that some people repatriated would be killed on their return.
There was confusion over whether a delegation from the protest would be admitted to the embassy, with one protester claiming they were being locked out. "You see the Nigerian embassy are locking us out, this is the kind of country they want to send us back to," he said.
However an official said all the protestors wanted in and that the embassy was willing to accept a small group to hand in the letter of protest.
The letter alleges the Irish authorities were informed by the embassy that Nigerian passports obtained by proxy were illegal and that asylum-seekers were being expelled on that basis.
An embassy official, addressing the crowd by megaphone, denied the claim adding that repatriation pacts were common and that the agreement to be signed next week was for the mutual benefit of both countries and related to other issues apart from immigration.
"The efforts of this embassy and this mission have always been to ensure the welfare of Nigerians in Ireland," he said.