Joe Higgins (Dublin West, Socialist Party)

I first heard the name Olunkunle Eluhanla on Monday, 15 March when I saw descending on Leinster House 60 leaving certificate students from Palmerstown community school who were upset, worried and angry that their friend had been snatched from their company without even having time to say goodbye. He was dumped, a term I use advisedly, in Lagos without identity papers, money, family, a place to go or someone on whom to fall back. These circumstances in themselves constitute callous negligence by the State. Lagos is an extremely precarious place for working class and poor people generally and especially for a completely lost young man in the uniform of his school. We are fortunate today that we are not here to mourn Olunkunle as he was assaulted in an attack which could have been even worse.

It beggars belief that a leaving certificate student two months away from his final exams should be deported. I salute the students of Palmerstown community school for their solidarity and loyalty to their friend. They have come in large numbers with their teachers to the Public Gallery hoping the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform will exercise compassion. They stand tall in contrast to comments in some media outlets that Irish youth is generally self-centred, cynical and callous. If the Minister will not listen to compassion, though I hope he will, he should at least listen to the voices of people in the community who ask him to set aside the general policy and exercise the discretion he absolutely has to allow the young man in question to return.

Supporters of Olunkunle are examining whether there are legal grounds to challenge his deportation. While they may go to the High Court, people power must be brought to bear on the Government to ensure he is allowed to continue his studies. The Minister must see the howling irony of this callous deportation in the context the Taoiseach's request to the President of the United States of America to allow thousands of undocumented Irish people to continue their American lives legally. I ask the Minister to end the agony of Olunkunle Eluhanla and the distress of his friends. I ask the Minister to allow Olunkunle to return to his studies and the bosom of the community which obviously loved him and took him to its heart.

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