Agbonlahors deportation challenge rejected

A Nigerian mother and her two young children are to be deported from Dublin later today.

The High Court dismissed a last-minute legal challenge to stop the deportation of Olivia Agbonlahor, her six-year-old autistic son Great and his twin sister Melissa.

The family were arrested when they signed on at the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) on Burgh Quay this afternoon.

Miss Agbonlahor’s solicitor, Kevin Brophy, slammed the decision.

He said he was embarrassed and ashamed for Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan, his predecessor Michael McDowell and the Irish Government.

The family will be removed from the GNIB office by Garda escort and taken straight to Dublin airport where they will board a plane for Lagos, Nigeria.

They are due to arrive in the country later tonight.

The solicitor told reporters he hoped the case would stir a national debate.

Mr Brophy said Irish immigrants had received hospitality all over the world and while the Irish government welcomed those who were a benefit to the state it turned away those considered a burden.

He said the GNIB would be providing a hotel for the family tonight in Lagos, but he had no expectations the Nigerian government would then accommodate them.

“I’m ashamed on their behalf,” he said of the current and previous justice ministers.

“They won’t be ashamed on their behalf because they believe the Irish immigration policy has been put into full effect and what this family were trying to do undermines the immigration policy of this country.

“I find that whole argument embarrassing.”

Ms Agbonlahor’s case was personally reviewed by Mr McDowell last year, but at the time Great had not yet been diagnosed with autism.

His decision was challenged in the High Court, but a judge ruled in April that he was correct not to revoke a deportation order against the family.

In July she dropped a second legal challenge, while recent appeals made directly to the Department of Justice were dismissed.

Dozens of locals and community leaders have supported the Agbonlahor family.

Fighting back tears Rosanna Flynn, of Residents Against Racism which led the campaign to keep the Agbonlahor’s in the country, said: “I’m sick to my stomach.

“I’m sick for Great, I’m sick for Olivia.

“I’m so angry with the Irish government for what is being done today to an innocent child and his family.

“I think that Ireland should be ashamed of itself.

“The people of Ireland need to open their eyes, see what is being done in their name. Don’t just rely on your politicians, your civil servants, the garda to do what you think they should do because they are not doing the right thing.”

Ms Agbonlahor and her husband Martins Agbonlahor moved to Italy from Nigeria in 1993.

In March 2002, when the twins were just one, she fled to Ireland over fears of persecution when her husband, an author, spoke out against criminality among the Nigerian expatriate community in Italy.