Minister must ‘halt plans for deportation’

JUSTICE Minister Michael McDowell must freeze the planned deportation of 11,500 asylum-seeking families until the test case on their claim for residency is heard in the High Court.

The demand by the Coalition Against the Deportation of Irish Children (CADIC) follows the High Court ruling that a Nigerian mother may legally challenge the Government’s decision to abolish a scheme that allowed parents of Irish-born children to apply for residency.

Ms Justice Finlay Geoghegan, who made the High Court ruling, held that Jennifer Ojadua Egbrin and her Irish-born one-year-old son had established substantial grounds to challenge the minister’s refusal to consider her application for residency.