Madam, - On behalf of the Great Justice Action Group we condemn the deportation to Nigeria of Great Agbonlahor, his twin sister Melissa and his mother Olivia.
It flies in the face of all human decency to knowingly and condemn a six-year-old autistic child to a future fraught with danger when the alternative was well within the capacity of our rich and compassionate country.
Over four years ago Great and his family came to Ireland seeking refuge and were welcomed by every community they entered. While in Ireland Great's condition has greatly improved; he has integrated well and contributed in his unique way to all those he touched.
Over the past two years, the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Brian Lenihan and his predecessor, Michael McDowell, have been furnished with all necessary evidence to show that Great was suffering from autism.
Each minister has also been made aware that Great would be treated with suspicion at best and violence at worst if sent to Nigeria. However, the minister has decided that the child and his family should be abandoned to a country that is as foreign to him and his sister as it is to the vast majority of Irish citizens.
It is simply not good enough that this callous and cowardly decision is cloaked behind references to laws and the integrity of systems. Human beings do not fit conveniently into systems, thank God, and it is the acknowledgement of this reality that gave the two Ministers at all stages in this process the discretion to give a future to this child. They chose not to.
If this case is not one deserving of a discretionary act by the Minister, what is? - Yours, etc,
SUSAN O'FLAHERTY, GARRY O'SULLIVAN, KEVIN McCAUGHEY, MARIAN CADOGAN, ANN BOLAND, Cllr CIONNATH O'SUILLEABHAIN, OLIVE O'SULLIVAN, Clonakilty, Co Cork.