Seanad Report: Members strongly criticised the recent deportation of Olunkunle Eluhanla (19) to Nigeria three months before he was due to take the Leaving Certificate examination. Some speakers urged the Minister for Justice to re-examine the teenager's case.
Joe O'Toole (Ind) said that the island in which he had grown up was one where there was a collection box on the counter of every village shop to help with the education of children in Africa. Added to that was the iconic imagery of African youngsters playing football or hurling under the watchful eye of an Irish priest or Christian Brother.
Mr O'Toole asked the leader of the House, Mary O'Rourke, to bring to the Government and the Minister the view that Mr McDowell might reinvestigate the case and show flexibility in dealing with it.
Brendan Ryan (Lab) said that if a young Irish person had been treated in the same way by another country we would be screaming that it was a brutal and uncivilised country.
Jim Higgins (FG) noted there was a strong lobby for legalising the undocumented Irish in the US.
He believed that there was a huge double-think in relation to our thinking on racism and the whole issue of asylum.
Pascal Mooney (FF) said it was a reflection of the compassion of the Seanad that so many members on all sides had expressed concern about this young man's situation.
Mary O'Rourke, the leader of the House, said she would seek a meeting with Mr McDowell to convey to him the points that had been voiced.
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It was deplorable that teachers in a disadvantaged area of Dublin had to give up their free time to raise money for school supplies, said Ms Mary White (FF).
We were all aware that Ireland was one of the richest countries in Europe, she told the House. She found it hard to reconcile that with the fact that all day last Saturday, and also on Friday evening, teachers from Scoil Treasa Naofa, off Donore Avenue, in the Liberties area of Dublin, were packing bags for shoppers in the Crumlin shopping centre to raise money for art supplies for their pupils in the school.
"I find it deplorable that teachers in a school in a seriously disadvantaged area of the city have to give up their free time to raise money for school supplies."
Ms White asked the leader of the House, Mrs Mary O'Rourke to raise the matter urgently with the Minister for Education.
Mrs O'Rourke said she had encountered teachers engaged in similar activities in her neck of the woods as well.
"Well done, for bringing it up. If you are as successful with that as you are with the child care issue you will really have made an impact," she told Ms White.