Scathing indictment of removal

The lengthy and keenly anticipated report by Children’s Ombudsman Emily O’Reilly is a scathing indictment of the traumatic, distressing, humiliating and wrongful removal by gardaí of two Roma children from their families in Ireland after a wave of panic swept across Europe when a blonde, blue-eyed girl named Maria was found hiding in an encampment in Greece.

It is clear that international suspicions of abduction fuelled the Irish controversy involving a two-year-old boy who the gardaí temporarily removed from his family and a seven-year-old girl taken from her family and who has since dyed her hair to avoid being taken again. But while Maria turned out not to be the daughter of her purported parents, in both Irish cases the persistent claims by the parents to be the real fathers and mothers were upheld, proving physical differences do not mean abduction.

In a refreshing twist, the report found no evidence to suggest ethnic profiling is institutional within the gardaí, though it is seen as a contributory factor leading to the children being taken into care. Worryingly, gardaí had no training for dealing with the Roma but had long experience of child protection and acted in good faith.