'We pray the Minister will show some mercy'

"I am sad and pained and I feel very black. No matter where we go we will always be second-class citizens and this judgment has made a lot of people petrified in our community."

That is the view of Yeti, the Nigerian mother of Irish-born 10-month-old twins, Daniel and Esther, who was responding yesterday to last week's Supreme Court decision that parents of Irish-born children have no automatic right to remain in the country.

Yeti and other members of the Christ Faith Tabernacle Church met yesterday for their weekly service in St Anthony's Hall in Ennis, where there is a thriving asylum-seeker community of 700 people.

The two-hour service was attended by more than 60 people with as many children under the age of five as adults present.

During the first hour Pastor Alaba Williams, accompanied by singers, a saxophonist, keyboard player and drummer, led the standing congregation in song and dance. Pastor Williams urged his congregation not to panic in the face of the Supreme Court judgment. He said: "The detail on what the Government will do has yet to be decided and we prayer that the Government will be lenient."

However, speaking after the service, Yeti said: "I am extremely upset about the judgment and I have not slept in three nights. It is a big shock to us because we are beginning to settle in and live a life of peace and of self-dignity here. I cannot do that any longer.

"I arrived in Ireland in January of last year. I know why I left my country, but the way I am being treated now is as good as being back in Nigeria. I have lost my self-dignity, even to walk on the road now I am so embarrassed, I think everyone is looking at me and I do feel very inferior."

Rose, from the Cameroon, has a two-year-old Irish-born daughter, Elizabeth. Since arriving in Ireland four years ago, she has completed a number of academic courses and is currently working in a local FÁS business training scheme.

She said: "I have been doing all the courses to get work for a better life. I am very worried now that I could be deported. There are bad ones taking from the system, but there are lots of us who are trying to build up something for themselves here, and I hope the Government will see that."

Sarah, a Nigerian mother of Irish-born one-year-old Emmanuel said: "We don't know what is going to happen, but we pray to God that the Minister for Justice will be lenient and show some kind of mercy.

"I arrived here in 2001. It is very, very peaceful in Ennis and it is the peace that we enjoy the most, but the judgment breaks our hearts and there is fear in the community that many of us will not be able to stay."

Yeti said: "The law should not be retrospective and should not apply to the people here today."

Her compatriot, Iyabo, said: "We are waiting on what the Minister will do." Studying business management in the University of Limerick, while her husband is studying in UCD, Iyabo said: "We have worked hard and are hopeful we will be allow to stay."