The future of a Nigerian woman fighting deportation to keep her autistic son in Ireland hangs in the balance today after the court adjourned her legal battle.
Olivia Agbonlahor and her son Great as they leave Dublin's immigration control office today. Image: PA.
A High Court judge refused to grant an interim order preventing the authorities from deporting Olivia Agbonlahor and her six-year-old twins over the weekend.
Mr Justice Eamon de Valera said it was up to the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) to do whatever they feel is appropriate.
The family presented themselves at the Bureau this afternoon as scheduled and told to return next month with her twins. A full hearing of the application against the deportation will be heard in the High Court next Monday.
Ms Agbonlahor claims that being returned to her home country will adversely affect the development of her son Great, who was diagnosed with autism in December. She travelled to Dublin on the train with her children, Great and Melissa, from their home in Tralee, Co Kerry, attending the Four Courts before visiting the GNIB.
Mr Justice de Valera criticised the woman's legal team for making such a late application. He told the family's barrister that he had seen and read media reports about the case for the last three days, and said he was unhappy about being put in a position where he was asked to make a decision less than three hours before they were due to present themselves.
"I can't pretend I haven't seen what's on television, on radio and newspapers," he said. "It would be completely foolish of me to do that."
Cormac O Dúlachan, SC for the family, argued that Ms Agbonlahor and her children should remain in the country under an EU directive which became law in October 2006.
He said the subsidiary protection scheme protects people who have lost an asylum application, but who can apply to remain in the state on humanitarian grounds.
The barrister told the court that the directive aims to protect vulnerable people, including minors and the disabled, and gave primary concern to children.
Mr O Dulachan said he would satisfy the court that there is a risk of inhumane or degrading treatment if Great is returned to Nigeria due to what is known of the treatment of people with disabilities and mental disabilities in Nigeria.
Campaigners claim the condition is classed as voodoo in the country.
This week outgoing Justice Minister Michael McDowell signed an order to deport the family at 2pm. Ms Agbonlahor's case was personally reviewed by the minister last year, but at the time Great had not been diagnosed with autism.
His decision was challenged in the High Court, but a judge ruled earlier this year that Mr McDowell was correct not to revoke a deportation order against the family.
A final appeal was made directly to the Department of Justice yesterday, but when refused solicitors applied to the court for a judicial review.
Granting the barrister short notice to have the case heard on Monday, Mr Justice de Valera ordered that papers be served on the State this afternoon.
"I'm not convinced that it is appropriate to make this application on an ex-party basis at this late stage of the matter," he added.
After the case Mr Brophy said he hoped the deportation will not take affect before Monday.
"It shouldn't happen, but there have been cases when it has," he said.
Ms Agbonlahor came to Ireland in March 2002 after living in Italy with her husband Martins Agbonlahor since 1993. If deported, it is not known if Ms Agbonlahor will be returned to Nigeria or Italy, under the Dublin Convention which states that individuals must make their application for asylum in the first EU country that they enter.
It is understood Ms Agbonlahor fled Italy when her husband, an author, spoke out against criminality among the Nigerian expatriate community in Italy and she feared persecution.