The decision to let Nigerian student Olukunle Elukanlo return to Ireland was "the right thing to do", Minister for Justice Michael McDowell said yesterday.
Accepting that he was making a U-turn in the controversial case, which led to secondary students picketing the Dáil, Mr McDowell said there were times when Ministers "should stop digging".
"I did this because having looked at the situation afresh I came to the conclusion that it was a little bit harsh as a decision in the way that it fell out.
"I think if I had had a second chance to think about the matter I would have given him enough time to finish his Leaving Cert.
"I could have done that and I should have done that. I have decided therefore that the best thing to do in the circumstances is to stop digging and to do the right thing and to let him come back," said the Minister.
The controversy had led to "a flurry of communications" on both sides of the argument.
"But sometimes you have to live with a decision and to be comfortable with it. I think that in the circumstances to maintain public confidence in the deportation system it was correct to give him time to complete his Leaving Certificate," Mr McDowell told journalists.
"It is my responsibility. I made the wrong decision and I have decided to change it. I have decided on that great phrase, 'mature reflection'."
However, he rejected charges that his decision creates a new precedent that will make it more difficult to deport other asylum seekers in future.
"It isn't a matter of public policy. Each of these cases rotates on its own facts. There was no overriding requirement that he should be deported immediately prior to his Leaving Certificate decision.
"Had I reflected long and hard enough on that issue I could and should have arranged that he wasn't deported until after his Leaving Certificate was done," he said.
He said he had learned that the 20-year-old student had been deported when he (Mr McDowell) returned from a St Patrick's weekend visit to Argentina last Monday.
"As you know, I was away when the deportation happened. I don't know who is selected for each individual flight. He came into the deportation office on the day that they were arranging a deportation so the sequence of events was not one that was predictable in any shape or form."
"But I think that it is very important that the people's confidence in the fairness of the procedures is maintained. People should not think that arbitrary decisions are made.
"I think, on reflection, I should have been more mindful of his requirement to finish his Leaving Certificate. What I am doing at the moment is giving him a six-month visa to come back," he said.
Asylum seekers would not be granted permission to stay just because they or a member of their family are in education, the Minister said.
"It isn't a precedent. This is a one-off decision that rotates on its own facts, but you have to be able to look at yourself in the mirror and say that you are quite satisfied that on reflection what you have done is fair. I think in this case I was a bit harsh," he said.
He had been "a bit taken aback" that some people were proposing to offer counselling to students in the Palmerstown school.
"I decided that rather than give them counselling, the best thing that I could do for all of them sitting the Leaving Certificate was to make sure that they did not spend their Easter holidays campaigning against me and get back to their studies, and that he rejoins them in studying and that they all get on well," he said.
