Eugene Murphy (Roscommon-Galway, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Minister of State for trying to give me some answers to my question. I also want to acknowledge the Minister, Deputy Naughten, and the Minister of State, Deputy Seán Canney, because both know the situation to which I refer.

I want to bring a particularly heartbreaking case to the attention of the Minister of State, Deputy Dara Murphy, today. It involves an unjust deportation order. A couple have been separated by thousands of miles and a system that has failed them miserably. It is the story of a Ballinasloe woman, Harriet Bruce, and her Brazilian born husband, Kleber Medeiros, who was deported from Ireland on 13 July. I am calling for an urgent review of the matter.

Kleber Medeiros had lived in Ireland since 2011 and was working in a specialist job. I want to be honest with the Minister of State. He was here illegally at that time, but was trying to regularise his situation and had applied for a de facto visa. He fell in love with a local lady, Harriet Bruce. They became engaged last year. However, somebody made an objection to the HSE, which registers marriages, saying it would be a marriage of convenience. It has since been clearly established that this objection had no foundation. The couple went ahead with a religious ceremony and on 10 December 2015 the couple married in St. Michael's Catholic Church in Ballinasloe.

However, in July Kleber received a letter from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service telling him to present himself to make arrangements for his removal from the State. The couple were devastated, but Kleber, who was very anxious to co-operate and was optimistic that the situation would be resolved, duly presented himself and did the right thing but he was deported the next day and remains in Brazil.

On 22 July, a letter to Kleber from the HSE arrived in their home in Ballinasloe. It stated: "Following an investigation of an objection to the above proposed marriage, the superintendent registrar has decided that there is not sufficient evidence to uphold the objection and that no impediment to the marriage exists". We regularly criticise the HSE, but it made the correct decision in this situation. It admitted that the marriage was genuine and a marriage certificate was issued, but unfortunately the letter came too late. The couple's lives have been turned upside down.

The ironic thing is that the marriage certificate has been issued and Kleber needs to sign the form, but he is not permitted to enter the country to do so. Harriet has a business in Ballinasloe, but has left Ireland temporarily to be with Kleber in Brazil. She has to return to look after her business. I call on the Minister of State to review this case as a matter of urgency.

They are real people and should not be reduced to file numbers. I hope they are looked after because their only crime was to fall in love, and now they are being punished. As I said, Harriet has business and property commitments in the State. It is outrageous that, as an Irish citizen, she would have to close her business and move halfway around the world simply because she fell in love and chose to marry a non-EU citizen.

I implore the Minister of State to a review Kleber Medeiros's deportation order, or, at the very least, allow him to return to Ireland to sign the marriage certificate which was justly granted to the couple. It is time to reunite this genuine couple. In fact, it is time to bring Kleber home.

See this speech in context