A mother of two who claims the deportation of her six-year-old autistic son and his twin sister to Nigeria will lead them to be treated as outcasts there, was yesterday told to report back to immigration authorities in mid-July.
The High Court will hear their application to stop the deportation on Monday.
Olivia Agbonlahor (36), along with her children Melissa and Great, had been ordered to present themselves at the Garda National Immigration Bureau in Dublin yesterday afternoon.
Earlier, a High Court judge decided to adjourn an application to stop the deportation until Monday. But it subsequently emerged that the family does not now have to report back to the bureau until July 19th.
Supporters of the family have launched an e-mail campaign pleading with Minister for Justice Brian Lenihan to allow the family remain in Ireland. Sheila Hoare, spokeswoman for the Great Justice Action Group, said friends of the family were appealing to the Minister to allow the Agbonlahors to remain here.
Mr Justice Eamon de Valera yesterday decided he could not hear the family's application for an injunction to stop the deportation until next Monday when, he said, the State could be represented at the proceedings.
The judge said he was not satisfied the interim injunction application should be made on an ex-parte (one-sided) basis and he was also not satisfied that the deportation was imminent.
Earlier this week, the Department of Justice refused to review the deportation order on foot of a new application.
Counsel for the family, Cormac O'Dúllacháin SC, told the court yesterday that the Minister for Justice had sought to limit an October 2006 EU directive to those who applied after it was enacted here, rather than to its date. The directive outlined how people declined refugee status might be allowed to remain, he said.
Mr Justice de Valera said he did not live "in a little bubble" and asked whether this was the case which he had seen highlighted on the television and media reports.
He also asked why the application had not been made to the court earlier. He said he would make no order and that it was for the authorities to deal with the matter in a way they deemed appropriate.
Speaking on behalf of the family in Dublin yesterday, solicitor Kevin Brophy expressed confidence the family would get a fair hearing.