Gardaí have confirmed that a total of nine Nigerian adults were deported from the country last night.
Campaigners from the Residents against Racism (RAR) group, who staged a protest outside the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) offices in Dublin yesterday, had feared that the number to be deported would be significantly higher.
One man, who did not wish to be named, told The Irish Times that after he checked in with the Garda National Immigration Bureau headquarters in Dublin city centre yesterday morning, he was told that he would be deported.
This was despite assurances which he said he had received from the authorities that this would not happen until his own case, and his application for asylum on behalf of his Irish-born daughter, had been fully considered in the courts.
He claimed that he was told that he was to be deported, but that his wife and children could remain here.
As he was being driven to the airport, he received word that he was not to be deported, and said he was hugely relieved.
"I've never been aware of any law which says that families should be separated," he said.
Spokeswoman for RAR Rosanna Flynn, who had estimated that at least 20 people would be deported during yesterday's operation, said Garda cars and vans containing Nigerian men, women and children had been seen leaving the building throughout yesterday.
Last night, she expressed relief that only nine had been deported, but added that she was still "saddened and very disturbed" by the move.
A spokesman for the Garda press office said five adult males and four adult females were deported on a chartered flight last night.
He could not comment on what further flights, if any, were planned.