A group of up to 50 failed Nigerian asylum-seekers were due to be deported on a specially chartered flight from Dublin Airport to Lagos last night. The group, which included a number of children, was to leave at around midnight.
The mass deportation followed a major Garda operation in Dublin and the regions in recent days in which Nigerian nationals who had been served with deportation orders were taken from their residences by gardaí.
Those living outside Dublin, including Laois, Louth and Cork, were held in Garda stations in the regions before being taken to Dublin airport. They were accompanied on the flight by members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau.
An advance party of gardaí were in Lagos for a number of days preparing for the return of the deportees. Accommodation in Lagos was organised for them, along with transport to destinations in the country.
A Nigerian mother of two who had appealed to Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to review her case was allowed to stay in the State with her four-year-old twins after the Minister intervened.
Olivia Agbonlahor (36) was collected yesterday morning by gardaí who called to Clonakilty Lodge, Co Cork, where she had been living. She was brought to Bandon where gardaí also collected her twins, Great, who is believed to be autistic, and Melissa. Both were in foster care.
"We were all brought to Bandon police station and it was there that my solicitor Kevin Murphy rang me to say that they would not be going ahead with the deportation today and that we could return home," Mrs Agbonlahor told The Irish Times.
She was told to report to Clonakilty Garda station next Tuesday and says she is worried she and her children may still be deported. "There is no help for children with autism, and if we are sent back to Nigeria it will cause huge problems for Great."
Mrs Agbonlahor said she and her journalist husband fled to Italy after he was threatened by drugs gangs in Nigeria following a series of articles he wrote about their activities. It was in Italy that her children were born in March 2001. She came to Ireland in 2003.
Mr McDowell said he was reviewing the case. "The papers before me indicate that this lady lived in Turin in Italy since 1996, and that her children were born to her there, and that she came to Ireland as a result of difficulties she was having in relation to co-nationals from Nigeria," he said. "It isn't as if she came to Ireland from Nigeria and is being sent back there. She lived in Turin and had her children there with her husband, who I think still resides there. So it's a slightly more complicated issue than most people would assume."
A Nigerian man who had been working as a doctor in a Limerick hospital secured an injunction in the High Court in Dublin yesterday preventing his deportation. He was one of around five Nigerians who got injunctions.
Dr Anthony Osagie, who had been working at St John's Hospital, Limerick as a junior doctor, was taken from the hospital to Limerick Prison by gardaí last Friday. Gardaí believed his paperwork allowing him to reside in Ireland had lapsed. He was being held at Limerick prison in anticipation of his deportation, but will now be freed pending a final determination in his case.
Last night's flight was the third mass deportation of Nigerians this year. In July 46 Nigerians, including 15 children, were deported on a flight to Lagos.
Another 35 Nigerian nationals were deported in March. One of these, Olukunle Elukanlo, was allowed to return to complete his Leaving Certificate after his classmates at Palmerstown Community School, Dublin, organised a campaign seeking his return.
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said Mr McDowell was waiting to hear from Mr Elukanlo's legal representatives the reasons why they believe the 20-year-old should be allowed to stay in Ireland.