THE Minister for Justice, Mrs Owen, has defended the action of two immigration officers who escorted to London an Algerian man deported earlier this week.
She said yesterday the "whole story" of the deportation had not yet been made public. The two immigration officers accompanied Mr Madani Haouanoh (24) from Rowan Hall, Milltown, Dublin, to Heathrow Airport for a flight to Algeria on Tuesday.
The officers boarded the flight with Mr Haouanoh about an hour before the High Court granted a temporary injunction staying the deportation.
Mr Haouanoh had arrived at Dublin Airport last Sunday on a private aircraft from La Rochelle, France.
Mr Haouanoh, who has lived in Ireland for five years, did not have a valid visa, re entry permit or work permit. He had been issued with an Algerian passport last April. He was married to an Irishwoman, Ms Alice Sheppard (23), in June 1993 by a Larne priest, Father Pat Buckley.
Ms Sheppard's father, John, said last night he did not know whether his daughter lived with Mr Haouanoh in Dublin. He said she was very upset about Mr Haouanoh's deportation and was concerned for his welfare.
Asked yesterday whether she gave full backing to the two officers, Mrs Owen replied: "The immigration officers are two members of the Garda Siochana. They have a job to do when somebody arrives in this country on a private plane without the necessary papers. We have immigration laws in this country and those immigration officers have to implement them."
She said she could not comment further while a court case was pending.
"What I can say is that the information that is coming out in some of the newspapers is not giving the whole story about this case, and in the fullness of time the full information about this case, I'm quite sure, will come out.
"But what I can say is that the person did not have a valid visa to be in this country, did not have a valid work permit to be in this country, bad not sought a re entry visa."
She said that, if Mr Haouanoh had sought a re entry visa, she was quite sure he would have got one. "The Department of Justice is obviously examining the mechanism whereby this case took place, but there is another story there that people in the newspapers seem unwilling perhaps to take on board.
When asked to expand on this statement later, a Department of Justice spokeswoman said Mrs Owen would not be making any further comment.
Mr Haouanoh's lawyers will seek on Monday to have the immigration officers sent to prison for alleged contempt of court following the deportation.
During Thursday's hearing, Mr Haouanoh's solicitor, Mr Dermot Coyne, said he had informed the Department of Justice and an immigration official at Dublin Airport of Tuesday's temporary injunction at about 11.20 am.
He said he had made a call to the immigration section at Dublin Airport at 10.35 a.m. saying the application for an injunction was about to be made.
But, according to official sources, the Department received no notice of the court proceedings. Mr Haouanoh left on a flight to London at 10.28 a.m.
In the first six months of this year, 133 people were refused permission to enter the State. Fewer than 12 non nationals have been deported by ministerial order in recent years.