A failed Romanian asylum-seeker deported last January was yesterday reunited in Dublin with his pregnant Irish wife hours before she gave birth to their daughter.
Ms Belinda Brennan (18) had married her husband in Romania during his three-month exile. Mr Marian Toader-Brennan (20) took his wife's surname at the ceremony near his Transylvanian village on February 23rd.
He arrived in Dublin yesterday morning after the deportation order against him was revoked and he was granted a visa due to his marriage to Ms Brennan. About seven hours later Ms Brennan gave birth in the Rotunda Hospital to a healthy baby girl.
"I'm speechless. I'm in a state of shock," said Mr Toader-Brennan from the hospital last night. "Some miracle has occurred because I arrive back on the day that my baby daughter was born."
Before his deportation he had lived and worked illegally in Ireland after his claim to remain as a refugee was turned down in July 1999.
The couple said yesterday they were happy to be reunited after a worrying three months apart.
"Now we have the chance to get the life we deserve. It was taken away from us three months ago and now we have it back," said Ms Brennan, who comes from Summerhill in Dublin.
She said her husband was a stabilising influence in her life and had helped her overcome her addiction to ecstasy and cannabis.
Mr Toader-Brennan, who fulfilled his wish to be at the birth of their child, said he felt at home in Ireland. He was, however, critical of the way his deportation was handled.
Ms Brennan was helped in her efforts to be reunited with her husband by a local organisation, Community Technical Aid. Its director, Mr Mick Rafferty, said the method of conducting deportations needed to be examined. "This was carried out in front of Marian's now wife, who was distressed," he said. "The system could be a lot more humane."
Ms Brennan's already marginalised family had initially had great difficulty in getting information about Mr Toader-Brennan's situation. "There needs to be a system to offer support and information to people in Belinda's position, and it's important that it happens. Without information people will only get into illegality," Mr Rafferty said.