Protesters attack ‘brutal’ deportation

DOZENS of protesters gathered outside a Government department yesterday to condemn last week’s deportation of failed asylum seekers to Nigeria.

Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism said they were considering taking the “brutal and callous” deportation to a human rights authority.

She said some of the 28 people sent to Lagos on a late-night chartered plane included an 18-year-old forced to leave his sister, Irish citizen children and a mother who left without her child.

As 30 people protested outside the Department of Health and Children, Ms Flynn said: “We are very concerned. If Ireland cannot handle this, it needs to be taken to a higher authority. It is a human rights issue.”

She said the 17-month-old boy left behind after his mother was deported was in a distressed state.

Opposition parties including the Labour party, Sinn Féin, the Green Party and Independents vowed to hold an Oireachtas all-party meeting to deal with the deportation issues.

A garda spokesman said the Nigerian mother had left her child with a partner who was legally entitled to stay in the country. However, Ms Flynn claimed the woman had not realised she was being deported.