Non-national parents of Irish children are meeting with human rights groups in Dublin today to discuss how best to fight Government plans to deport them.
Some 700 non-EU immigrant parents of Irish citizen children have received letters in the last three weeks informing them they face deportation.
The Department of Justice is attempting to cancel some 11,000 outstanding residency applications from immigrant parents made solely on the basis that they had become parents of Irish children.
This follows a Supreme Court ruling in January which rejected the automatic right of non-EU immigrants to residency in Ireland on the basis that they are parents of Irish citizens.
Up until that time, it had been the practice to grant residency rights to such immigrants.
Refugee groups say the move is effectively "criminalising" the non-national parents of Irish-born citizens.
Refugee groups complain the letters are causing "unnecessary confusion, worry and strain" to many parents.
In many case the parents have been given only three weeks to seek temporary leave to remain in the State on humanitarian grounds.
A spokeswoman told ireland.commany parents cannot afford to get legal representation and do not qualify for free legal aid. She said the average legal bill was between €2,000 and €4,000.
Today's meeting was organised by the African Woman's Network and will be attended by number human rights and refugee groups including the Children's Rights Alliance, the Irish Council for Civil Liberties, the Irish Refugee Council, the Immigrant Council of Ireland, the Irish Commission for Justice and Peace, the Refugee Information Service, the Vincentian Refugee Centre.
