Deportation to split more than 100 couples

MORE than 100 married couples face enforced separation after being warned that their non-European spouses had entered Ireland illegally and would be deported, it emerged yesterday.

The Department of Justice has confirmed that 120 deportation notices were issued to non-EU nationals who married non-Irish EU citizens in Ireland, but had not been previously living legally in another EU member state.

It was also disclosed by the department that 76 notices were issued after the High Court ruling in June that gave the Government the right to insist that non-EU spouses must live legally in another member state before moving to Ireland.