20 families of Irish-born children deported
Department of Justice figures show that in each case the parents took their children with them.
The number of non-national families that have received letters from the department telling them of the State's intention to deport them has increased almost five-fold in the last four months.
Records show that 1,549 families, out of an estimated 11,000 families affected by the court ruling, have received notification of deportation.
The families are given 15 working days to explain why they should be allowed to stay. In addition, 96 people have been returned under "voluntary repatriation," and another 74 cases are pending.
In the Lobe and Osayande case in January 2003, the Supreme Court ruled that parents of an Irish-born child did not have an absolute right to remain here and that their right could be limited by law.
A Government decision the following month meant that an estimated 11,000 families, who had claimed a right to remain by virtue of having an Irish-born child, were affected. A spokeswoman for the department said that about 1,119 of the 11,000 families have received separate letters indicating they had an alternative basis for being in the State such as those who were on work permits at the time of birth and would not be deported.
Peter O'Mahony of the Irish Refugee Council said there was no way of knowing whether the 20 families deported had full access to their legal rights.
"There are concerns as there is a general minimum of transparency regarding deportations. The arrests happen at the crack of dawn, deportations happen at the dead of night. Charter flights are used, so it's out of public sight.
"People's mobile phones are taken from them at an early enough stage, so they are effectively closed off from any contact with solicitors or family members." He added: "people are also being imprisoned, temporarily or otherwise, on their return, including their children."
He said a major problem for all the 1,549 families is that they are denied access to free legal aid to fight their case.
Law lecturer Donncha O'Connell yesterday called on the Government to regularise the position of the 1,549 families and said they had a legitimate claim to citizenship. Speaking at a conference organised by Integrating Ireland against the citizenship referendum, Mr O'Connell accused Justice Minister Michael McDowell of "completely undermining" the integrity of the process of amending the Constitution.
A report said Irish-born children of non-national parents would have less rights than other children if the referendum was passed.
