The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, has said he sees no reason to change his decision to deport to Kosovo a widow and her two daughters whose asylum claim has failed.
The Sylaj family have left their Dublin home and are staying with friends to evade the deportation order against them. The family has been supported in its claim for permission to remain in Ireland on compassionate grounds by pupils and staff at the school attended by the two children.
Young classmates of Eni (5) and Eda (4) from Castleknock Educate Together National School in Dublin staged a protest outside the Dáil last week to gain public support for their case.
The girls' mother, Ms Florinda Sylaj (36), withdrew them from school two weeks ago when they went into hiding. This followed an attempt by gardaí to deport the family on October 8th. As Ms Sylaj was not in the family home at the time, gardaí did not proceed.
Questioned about the case, Mr McDowell said: "I have given thought to the whole case and I have made a decision in relation to it and I see no reason to change it."
Ms Sylaj told The Irish Times she would rather drown herself in the Liffey than return to her country. Speaking in a city centre hotel, she said she was afraid to be in a public place while there was a deportation notice against her and her children.
"I'm so afraid and I'm just looking around to see if anyone will come and catch me. So many times in the night I wake up and look at the window to see if I can see a car with police and flashing lights," she said, speaking through a Kosovan friend.
Ms Sylaj and her children have been in Ireland for almost three years. She believes her husband was killed in the war in Kosovo, and claims her family would be destitute if forced to return there. She claims her Muslim in-laws in the Balkan state physically abused her and never accepted her because she is a Catholic.
In the first nine months of the year, 2,127 deportation orders were signed and 493 people have been deported. This compares with 365 for the same period last year.