The Minister for Justice has been accused of acting unfairly and arbitrarily by refusing to accept further applications for residency from non-EU immigrants based on their parentage of Irish-born children.
Human rights and refugee groups say new restrictions which came into force yesterday are a "crude" reaction to a recent Supreme Court decision.
The Supreme Court ruled last month that non-EU national parents of children who are Irish citizens are not automatically entitled to residency in Ireland. As a result of the judgment, the Department of Justice has said it will no longer accept applications from persons for residency based on their parentage of an Irish-born child.
From yesterday, non-EU immigrants will be allowed to apply for leave to remain in the State on humanitarian grounds, including parentage of children born here, but only after they have received a deportation order.
The Immigration Division will "not accept, consider, acknowledge or process in any way applications made in advance of the initiation of the deportation process, irrespective of the manner in which such applications are made."
The Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL) and the Irish Refugee Council yesterday said this new process "runs roughshod over the rights of Irish child citizens and deliberately abdicates the duty of the Department to put in place a fair, transparent and human rights compliant asylum and immigration policy and process." Ms Aisling Reidy, ICCL director, said the new system goes well beyond the Supreme Court judgment and is "a very crude" response.
Mr James Stapleton, the Irish Refugee Council's policy officer, said a clear and transparent policy was needed. He said: "Parents of Irish citizens will now have to wait until notice of a deportation order is given before they can apply for leave to remain in Ireland. Leave to remain, under the Immigration Act, is granted on a discretionary basis, and reasons for the refusal do not have to be given. There is therefore no accountability or transparency in this system."