A school principal opposed to family deportations has criticised the Minister for Justice for "accusing mothers of taking a conscious decision to leave Ireland without most of their children".
This comes ahead of a national protest on Saturday in Athlone organised by groups opposed to the deportation of families.
John O'Neill, principal at Summerhill National School, said families were broken up by officers of the Garda National Immigration Bureau, and not by mothers hiding children.
Two families in Athlone were split up when two mothers, Iyabo Nwanze and Elizabeth Odunsi, were deported with two of their children. Four more children were left behind in Ireland, and are now in hiding in the midlands.
"Michael McDowell blames the mothers for the break-up of their families, when in fact it was his own agents of State who were responsible for breaching that most cherished constitutional principle, the right to the integrity of the family."
Athlone Town Council has passed a motion calling on Mr McDowell to review the cases of Ms Odunsi and Ms Nwanze, and town mayor Austin Berry (Ind) will speak at Saturday's march.
Other speakers include Leader of the Seanad Mary O'Rourke (FF); deputies Paul McGrath (FG), Willie Penrose (Labour), Joe Higgins (Socialist Party); and Rosanna Flynn, of Residents Against Racism.