Romanian boy, seven, found after family deported

Donal Hickey

Eduardo Covaci went into hiding after his family was deported on Wednesday night.

Last night a garda spokesman said the health services had been notified and no decision had yet been taken as to his future. He’s believed to have been with an aunt.

Grainne Landers, of the Tralee Refugee Support Services, said she was extremely concerned about Eduardo’s future and about the effects of the separation on his family, who were among almost 60 Romanian deportees flown to Bucharest on Wednesday.

His mother, Samantha, stated to be “utterly distraught and distressed” after leaving Ireland without him, made telephone contact from Bucharest with a family member in Tralee at 4am yesterday.

Samantha, the boy’s father, Mihai Tejlas, and four-year-old brother, Ricardo, were told they were being deported after they went to Tralee Garda Station for their weekly signing on on Wednesday.

Eduardo was collected from the Holy Family School, in Balloonagh, Tralee, most likely by a relative, minutes before gardaí from the National Immigration Bureau arrived to deport him.

Ms Landers, meanwhile, questioned the manner in which the deportation was attempted. She said garda immigration officials had arrived at the school in full view of other children and the deportation attempt was not discreet.

The Refugee Support Service believes no great attempt was made by immigration officials to locate the child before his family was taken to Dublin.

A spokesperson for the Department of Justice said it was generally up to the parents of a child to insist on a search for him. Parents were not forced to leave without children. Gardaí were not obliged to conduct a search if parents did not request them to do so.

Fifty-eight Romanian nationals were put on a flight to Bucharest, which departed at 11.30pm on Wednesday night. They included 42 males, five male children, 13 females with three children.