Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Gabhaim buíochas leis an gCeannaire i dtosach as an bplé a bhí againn maidir le cúrsaí dramhaíola. I got a response from the Minister on the bins issue but, unfortunately, it has created more chaos than it has solved. We will return to the issue and I shall e-mail the Leader about it later. I have already e-mailed the Minister.

My party has called for a lot of debates on different issues such as the diaspora, rural affairs, Gaeilge, repossessions, fishing and school transport. I hope that we will have some of these debates before the break and ask the Leader to indicate when the debates will happen. Another key issue is Leader programme funding. The matter has led to great consternation so it would useful to debate it before the break.

I would like to raise a very distressing issue that came to my attention this morning. I refer to a man who is married to an Irish citizen but was deported from Ireland at 5.55 a.m. this morning. There appears to be serious issues around the scenario. The couple were married and he has worked here for six years. It appears that there are issues around how the legal side of the case has been handled. There also appear to be issues around how the non-release of a marriage certificate has added to the distress caused to the woman involved, her family and everyone connected to the situation. This is a very serious issue.

The man was sent to Cloverhill Prison for three days. I have been told that he was treated quite badly while in prison and his representatives want to make this an issue. It would appear, on foot of anonymous unproven statements made on the nature of the marriage, that the Garda and the Department of Justice and Equality acted in a very speedy fashion to have the man deported back to Brazil. We should address this very serious issue with the Minister for Justice and Equality. I appreciate that the Leader might not want to raise the matter on the floor of the Seanad but I would appreciate if we could debate the matter. I will e-mail the Leader about this matter. I would like to secure his support to see if we can get clarification as to why this has happened and what can be done to rectify the situation as soon as possible.