Nigerian family stay on in shut facility

A NIGERIAN family fighting deportation have been granted permission to stay in an accommodation centre for asylum seekers which officially closed down yesterday.

From today, Olivia Agbonlahor, 36, and her twins Great and Melissa, will be the only occupants of the 140-bedroom Clonakilty Lodge, an accommodation centre for asylum seekers in Co Cork. The family is awaiting a High Court decision on their case.

The court reserved judgement in February after Ms Agbonlahor sought leave to legally challenge the deportation order of herself and her two Italian-born children.

Ms Agbonlahor claimed that deportation to Nigeria would adversely affect, Great, aged five, who has been diagnosed with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). He is attending a special needs school in Clonakilty.

Ms Agbonlahor said if the family was deported to Nigeria, Great would be treated as an outcast because of his condition, and the appropriate facilities for his care are not available there.

Thousands of signatures were collected by the Great Justice Action Group in support of the family.

Ms Agbonlahor has lived in Clonakilty Lodge since 2003. She said she fled Nigeria because of threats from drug gangs, after her journalist husband wrote about their activities. He is currently in hiding, and last November was said to be in Italy.

Justice Minister Michael McDowell reviewed the case in January and concluded he was satisfied the boy was not autistic, and made a deportation order.

However, an injunction preventing the family’s deportation remains in place. In the High Court in March, Judge Herbert granted Ms Agbonlahor leave to apply for the injunction on the grounds that Mr McDowell’s refusal to revoke the deportation order was a violation of their rights under Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights.

Clonakilty Lodge manager, Roy Maguire, said despite the closure of his facility, the family will remain and are in good form.

“The children are oblivious really to the situation but Olivia is coping well,” he said.

The last 15 occupants of the lodge left yesterday and were bussed to other accommodation centres in Cork and Millstreet.

Mr Maguire’s contract with the Department of Justice’s Reception and Integration Agency (RIA), which has run since 2000, is not being renewed because the RIA has now more accommodation than it needs.

The lodge, now up for sale, was built nine years ago as a hotel but was designated to accommodate asylum seekers in 2000.

It housed 95 asylum seekers at peak operations and employed up to 13 staff.

The town opened its arms to the 650-plus residents from countries across Eastern Europe and Africa, and China and Iran, who have lived at the lodge since 2000. Within a week of its establishment, a Friends of Asylum Seekers group was set up in the town.

“They would take the kids on Saturdays to play games, they brought people into their homes for dinners, organised outings to the beach, English classes and computer classes,” Mr Maguire said.

“The level of assistance offered has been superb.”

Mr Maguire said while the asylum process is fair it is being abused by a small minority who make it difficult for genuine cases to be approved.

“But the vast majority are very genuine. I’ve met people I’d love to see living next door to me.”