THREE NIGERIAN children were brought to Ireland and left alone by their father four years ago, the High Court heard yesterday.
The court was hearing an application for judicial review of a decision to deport the oldest child, now 19, on grounds the Minister had not considered the family rights under the European Convention on Human Rights of her younger siblings.
According to the affidavit filed on her behalf, when she was 15 and her two half-brothers 13 and seven, they were taken first to England by their father, where they stayed for four months, and then to Ireland, where they were left alone and instructed to seek asylum. “We had no idea why we were being dumped in this manner,” she said.
They were together for three months, then the younger one was taken to a home, while she and the older boy remained in a hostel. Just over a year later, the younger boy was placed with a foster family and, about six months later, the older boy joined him.
The girl was also under the care of the State and had a number of social workers. In January 2006, she applied for asylum. This application was unsuccessful, and she was advised by her social worker not to appeal to the Refugee Appeals Tribunal, but to seek humanitarian leave to remain in the country. This was refused and, in September 2008, a deportation order was made.
The foster mother of the two boys also swore an affidavit stating she would have taken in the girl also had she not been too old, and that she had regular contact with her brothers, to whom she was very close, and with the rest of the foster family, all of whom would be devastated by her being sent home.
Rosario Boyle SC, counsel for the applicant, asked whether any inquiry had been carried out to determine if she had any family life here. She said the Minister had “fallen into error” in failing to consider the effect of the decision to deport her on the right to family life of her brothers.
Ms Justice Maureen Clark said that, according to her application for asylum, all three had different mothers and she had lived with her mother in Nigeria. The three were not a family unit there.
“We say they are a family unit in Ireland and sending her home would have the effect of breaking it up,” Ms Boyle said.
“It is difficult to see how you can argue that two boys, in the loving care of a foster mother, and a sister who is not living with them, form part of a family unit,” Ms Justice Clark said.
She said the question was whether the action of the Minister was proportionate, and whether the deportation would have such consequences as to engage the right to family life.
Ms Boyle said that the Minister had acknowledged that the decision would affect her family life, but not such as to engage her convention right. She was arguing that the question was not just her right to family life, but that of her brothers.
Ms Justice Clark said it should also be considered whether there was a compelling reason why all three could not live together in Nigeria. “It is an unusual case,” she said, asking where the boys were now, as the older of the two had by now turned 18. “The court wants to make a decision based on the current facts,” she said.
The case continues today.