A Croatian man and his 14-year-old son are to be deported this morning following the failure of a High Court appeal to allow him stay with his wife.
Garda immigration officers are due to escort Mr Miodreg Sinik and his son, Boris, on flights to Croatia today.
Mr Sinik and his son, whose application for asylum here has been refused, leaves behind his wife, Biljana, and daughter Dajana (11).
Ms Sinik, who suffers from post-traumatic stress and depression, has applied with her daughter for asylum. Their cases have not yet been processed.
Gardaí moved to deport Mr Sinik and his son today after the Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, decided not to intervene in the case.
A Fine Gael TD for Meath, Mr Fergus O'Dowd, who made representations on behalf of the family, said yesterday the Minister's secretary told him that Mr McDowell would not be intervening.
The Minister has absolute discretion to allow individuals to stay in the State on humanitarian grounds.
Last week, lawyers told the High Court in Dublin that Mr Sinik feared he would be killed if he was returned to Croatia. The family are ethnic Serbs from the Vukovar, in the Krajina region of Croatia.
The court was also told that Ms Sinik had twice attempted to take her life since she came to Ireland in 2000.
Mr Justice Smyth rejected an appeal by Ms Sinik for her husband to be allowed stay until her asylum application was determined.
