deportees told to surrender irish passports of children parents of irish-born children, who are facing deportation, are being told to surrender their children's irish passports before being removed from the state. in one such case, a south african woman living in cork since 2002 was served on march 28th with notice to present herself to gardaí (the irish police force) in dublin on april 13th. the letter, which has been seen by the irish times, states: "i also require you to surrender your child's irish passport." it goes on: "if you fail to comply with any provision of the deportation order or with any requirement in this notice, an immigration officer or a member of the garda sfochana (sic) may arrest and detain you without warrant." irish times

refugee council criticises garda letters to immigrants the irish refugee council has criticised the gardaí for sending letters to the non-national parents of irish-born children ordering them to surrender their children's passports. peter o'mahony, the council's chief executive, said the gardaí had claimed the phrase 'surrender the passport' was unintended and the letters should have read 'present the passport'. however, mr o'mahony said this attempt to play down the matter did not tally with the next paragraph in the letters, which threatened the arrest and detention of anyone who failed to comply with the order. "it's a fairly dramatic and disturbing new development," he said. breakingnews.ie