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Agbonlahors Deported – Government Disgraces Itself

16/08/07

Olivia Agbonlahor and her two children Great and Melissa (both six) were deported last Tuesday night following the failure of a last minute legal appeal.

The Irish-African family had made their home in county Kerry, and had lived in the Munster area for five years.

Great suffers from severe autism and had been receiving one-to-one treatment in Kerry which was proving effective in treating his communication skills. There is no specialised treatment or schooling provided in Nigeria for autistic children.

The Agbonlahor’s have been dogged by Twenty-Six County government attempts to deport them for several years, beginning with former Minister for Justice Michael McDowell.

The current incumbent in the Department for Justice, Brian Lenihan, said yesterday that he saw no reason to overturn the decision made by McDowell to deport the family.

Lenihan was previously Minister for Children in the Dublin administration, which many had hoped might have made him more amenable to the plight of the Agbonlahor family.

Olivia, Melissa and Great were taken from their home early last week to be ‘prepared’ for removal to Africa.

Great and Melissa have never seen their mother’s homeland having been born in Italy and brought up in Ireland.

The family’s lawyer Kevin Brophy said he was “embarrassed and ashamed for what this government have done to this family and this child.”

éirígí chairperson Brian Leeson said the Twenty-Six County government had failed to display that most basic of human values; compassion.

“This family came to Ireland to make a home and live in peace. Can the Dublin government explain what threat to the security of the state they represented? And was this threat so severe that it could only be remedied by forced removal to Nigeria?

“They have condemned a child with special needs to a life without treatment or hope. This is inexcusable.”

Brian continued: “The minister has stated that he saw no reason to rescind the decision of his predecessor. Clearly, considerations of morality and common decency don’t permeate the walls of the Department of Justice.

“In his time as Minister for Children, Lenihan claimed to uphold the rights of the child. So he is either a liar who will say anything to keep a ministerial post or he is a racist who thinks that black children are undeserving of the rights he would grant their white brothers and sisters.

“Regardless of the answer, he is a disgrace to this country and should be removed from office immediately.”