Brian Lenihan Jnr (Dublin West, Fianna Fail)

The Minister reversed his decision in the Kunle case on its unique facts and allowed the young man concerned to return to sit his leaving certificate examinations. I refer Deputies to the Minister's response to the Seanad Adjournment debate of 25 March 2005 on the matter.

A general policy not to deport schoolgoing persons leading up to examination periods cannot be inferred from the decision in the Kunle case. I ask Deputies to consider what would be the consequences of such a policy. In effect, no person in any form of State education and, by implication, none of his or her family members could be deported from the State for a considerable part of the year. Further, the logic of such a policy would be that a person at any point in the education system leading up to an exam could not be deported.

Deputies should bear in mind that a substantial number of asylum seekers are of an age when they are likely to be engaged in the State education system where examinations of one sort or another are a common feature. For example, of the 7,900 asylum applicants in 2003, almost 1,100 were accompanied minors between the ages of four and 18 years. Similarly, of the 4,766 asylum applicants in 2004, more than 700 were accompanied minors between the ages of 4 and 18 years. To give a guarantee that none of those persons — and again, by implication, his or her siblings and parents — would be deported or even issued with deportation orders during a substantial part of the year would be irresponsible. It would send out a message to the world that Ireland had an obligation to provide an education, including the right to sit examinations, to those who, having been found not to be in need of international protection, had otherwise no right to be in the State.

See this speech in context