Family may be split up if deported

AN Eastern European couple are fearful that they will not be able to bring up their Irish-born daughter together if they are deported.

Timea Ghergut, whose native country Hungary joins the EU next May, and her Romanian husband Iosif have lived here since August 2001. Sabina was born three months later.

Now living in Galway, they have described their situation as intolerable, waiting since October 2001 to hear about their application for residency. They had expected to be allowed stay until the Supreme Court ruled last January that non-national parents of Irish-born children do not have an automatic right to residency.

Since then they have been awaiting a decision from the Department of Justice on their application to live here.

“We could be told any day that we face deportation but we have no idea how it will be decided which country they send our daughter to,” said Timea.

The couple were married in Hungary four years ago, but that country’s strict laws prevented Iosif from living there permanently, despite the marriage.

“If we are deported, he would probably be sent back to Romania and I would take Sabina to Hungary but she needs the security and routine of a family,” said Timea, whose birthday was on Christmas Eve.

The couple are living in frustration at the lack of information but they put on smiling faces over Christmas for their daughter’s sake.

“It is ironic that Hungary becomes an EU member on May 1 next, so I just hope we can stay on here until then, but nobody can tell us if we will be entitled to live here then either,” said Timea, who has qualifications in the textile trade.

A Department of Justice spokesperson said that, as the law stands, anybody from an accession country living here illegally is likely to be deported, in which case parents are normally allowed decide where their children go to live.

“But Ireland is the only EU country that has not put up a barrier to people from the accession countries coming here to work from next May,” the spokesperson said.

Timea and Iosif, an IT specialist, are frustrated at being unable to get work permits, despite their skills and being able to speak a number of languages. Timea has been working in a charity shop in Galway and says they have made many friends while living in Ireland.