Great Agbonlahor, the six-year-old autistic boy facing deportation, has been granted a four-week reprieve just 24 hours before he could have been thrown out of the State.
But the boy's solicitor has hit out the Department of Justice for what he regards as a callous attitude towards the welfare of deported children.
Great, his twin sister Melissa and mother Olivia, are due to sign on at the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) tomorrow.
Having exhausted every available legal avenue, Dublin-based solicitor Kevin Brophy wrote to the Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan seeking time for the family to get inoculated.
The request was granted, but Mr Brophy criticised the Minister's position on the matter.
He quoted from the letter in which the four-week extension was granted: "It is not the practice to give applicants time to be inoculated prior to deportation nor is it intended to become the practice."
Mr Brophy said it was "incredible" that the Government would have no concern for children travelling to countries without protection from diseases such as typhoid and malaria.
"I find it horrific that a government department would quite coldly say they couldn't care less whether young children are exposed to life-threatening diseases because they don't want to anyone to have the opportunity to evade deportation," Mr Brophy said.
He says that having spoken to a number of barristers and solicitors he believes it is the first time the Department has granted more time to someone facing deportation in order to be inoculated.
"It hasn't happened before simply because everybody knew the attitude of the Department," he said.
The Department nor the GNIB were willing to comment when contacted by ireland.com.
Campaigners say Great's fate is solely in the hands of Mr Lenihan who has the power to grant a right to stay in Ireland on compassionate grounds.
The previous minister for justice Michael McDowell had said there are no grounds for allowing him stay, and Mr Lenihan maintains there is no basis for changing that finding.
Great was born in Italy and has lived in Ireland with his sister and mother for four years. They fled Italy because of alleged death threats issued against the children's father, Martins Agbonlahor, who is an author.
It is claimed he spoke out against elements within the Nigerian expatriate community whom he alleged were engaged in drug trafficking.
Ms Agboblagor and her twin children lived at a centre for asylum seekers in Clonakilty, Co Cork since March 2002 before recently moving to a hostel in Tralee, Co Kerry.
They have received considerable local and political in both communities.
Two weeks ago, the family withdrew their High Court challenge to Mr McDowell's decision on the basis that Great's diagnosis as autistic had not been established when Mr McDowell reviewed the case.
Rosanna Flynn of Resident Against Racism said Great's condition is viewed as voodoo in Nigeria and the child would be very isolated and not receive suitable care.