A Nigerian woman who was arrested by gardaí in Sligo last night has won a temporary injunction to halt her deportation.
Pamela Izbekhai had spent the last five weeks in hiding, while her two daughters were looked after elsewhere.
At the High Court, her lawyers said her first daughter Elizabeth bled to death in 1994 at the age of 19 months after undergoing female circumcision. They said she feared her remaining daughters, aged three and five, would be subjected to female genital mutilation if she was deported to Nigeria.
Mr Justice Barry White granted a temporary injunction to Ms Izbekhai, who was not present in court.
The case will be heard again in the High Court on January 23rd, when Ms Izbekhai's lawyers are expected to seek a judicial review of the deportation order.
Ms Izbekhai was arrested in Sligo yesterday minutes after leaving a meeting with a social worker and brought to Mountjoy Garda station in Dublin.
She went into hiding on December 8th after immigration officers acting on a deportation order arrived to pick her up at Globe House, the asylum seeker centre in Sligo where she was staying.
Her application for asylum was turned down on appeal.
The Labour Party's justice spokesman today called on Minister for Justice Michael McDowell to review the case and let Ms Izbekhai stay in Ireland. He said there was without doubt, a prima facie case to let her stay.
Mr Costello also called for more transparency in the asylum process. "There's absolutely no clarity on what actually happens during appeals process," he said. "We need a procedure that is transparent and accountable."
Over over 100 of Ms Izevbekhai's supporters staged a protest outside Sligo courthouse this morning.