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Tuffy condemns deportation of Nigerian student in his school uniform

Issued : Wednesday 16 March, 2005

Local Labour Party Senator and Seanad Spokesperson on Justice, Joanna Tuffy has condemned the manner in which a Nigerian student who was attending Palmerstown Community School was deported while still in his school uniform and with little or no warning.

“The manner of the deportations earlier this week to Nigeria is heartless and outrageous. Many of the deportees to Lagos on Monday night were young people and students who had settled here in recent years. Olunkunle Eluhanla was just 19 and was due to sit his Leaving Certificate at Palmerstown Community School and was literally put on a plane in his school uniform.

“The Minister for Justice and the Immigration Bureau are operating without accountability and transparency and the way immigrants are being rounded up and deported is extraordinary. The manner in which these people are being deported is in breach of the Geneva Convention and takes no account of humanitarian considerations. We need a system that takes due regard of the humanitarian and personal circumstances of the people involved”.