Gardaí supervise Roma’s departure from camp
Gardaí yesterday supervised the departure of the Roma gypsies from their makeshift encampments on the roundabout and beside the slip road at the motorway’s Ballymun exit.
Officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau said the departures were voluntary and had nothing to do with the deportation orders served on 86 gypsies at the weekend.
The group was taken by bus to the Balsaskin reception centre close to Dublin Airport before being flown back to Romania.
Seven Roma gypsies have already returned to Romania on scheduled flights that left Ireland on Monday night and yesterday.
And, ironically, the Roma families had endured one of the wettest summers in Ireland at a time when Romania was in the grip of a heat wave.
About 23 adults and 15 children who have opted to stay have all been issued with deportation orders and have less than two weeks to make submissions to the Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan, as to why they should be allowed to stay.
One of the Roma families living on the roundabout is to challenge the decision by the minister to remove them from the State in the High Court on Friday.
And a Romanian mother of a six-month-old baby daughter, also living on the roundabout, is taking a separate High Court action against the Health Service Executive (HSE) today aimed at securing family support services.
The woman’s child, one of three taken into care by the HSE last week, was returned to her on Friday. The health authority is anxious to return the other two children, aged four and 14, to their parents as soon as possible.
Sources also confirmed that 21 additional gypsies flew into Dublin on a flight from Bucharest on Saturday night.
The latest arrivals carried tents in their luggage and hired a fleet of taxis to take them directly from the airport to the makeshift camps.
Director of Pavee Point Ronnie Fay said many of those who left the campsites voluntarily yesterday only arrived in Ireland last week, while many of those wanting to stay had been living on the roundabout since May.
Ms Fay also pointed out that the Garda operation that began at dawn yesterday was professional with no attempt made to remove anyone by force.
On Monday night, Mr Lenihan said the Roma families would be deported from Ireland unless they could provide a valid reason as to why they should stay.
Mr Lenihan said he was warned by the Romanian community in Ireland that if the families were allowed stay, thousands more would to follow in their wake.
“They are a huge social problem in Romania,” Mr Lenihan told RTÉ’s Questions and Answers. “That’s Romania’s problem, not Ireland’s problem. There is a front door into this country.
“There isn’t a back door.”
Director of the National Consultative Committee on Racism and Interculturalism Philip Watt said Ireland, together with other EU member states, must put pressure on Romania to provide the resources to improve conditions for the Roma community.
While Romanians can travel to Ireland without a visa they cannot get jobs without a work permit and are not entitled to any social welfare, community welfare of housing.
