School pals take up the fight to halt deportation

SCHOOLMATES of a four-and-a-half-year-old boy facing deportation have posted an avalanche of letters to the Minister for Justice urging him to allow the child and his family to stay in Ireland.

More than 120 pupils of Scoil na mBuachaillí, aged between nine and 12, yesterday wrote to Michael McDowell urging him to throw a permanent lifeline to Great Agbonlahar, a junior infant pupil in the school, and his family.

Great, who, it is suspected, suffers from autism will be assessed for the condition at Marian House in Cork city tomorrow. The schoolboys are deeply concerned about the implications for Great and his family if they're deported to Nigeria, a country neither he nor his sister has ever seen, according to sixth class pupil Barry Peppard: