A principal at a Dublin primary school which lost two of its young pupils earlier this week after they were picked up by immigration officers for deportation said that their sudden departure felt like a death to their classmates.

Thirty five people, including five children, were deported on a flight from Dublin to Lagos, Nigeria on Wednesday night.

Gardaí from the National Immigration Bureau carried out the operation of removing individuals from the State. The children involved were deported as part of family groups.

Principal of St James Primary School in Dublin 8, Ciarán Cronin, told Newstalk that two of the boys who were deported had been in his school for three years.

'Visibly distressed'

Mr Cronin said that while some of this original group of children had since been moved to different places across the country, there are still about 14 children enrolled at his school.

He said that those children came to school in a “visibly distressed” state on Wednesday.

“They were so upset – shaking, there were tears; and when we were asking them what happened, they told us that two of the boys that are in second class and sixth class, they’d been taken away in a minivan with all their stuff to go to the airport to be deported.

“We were just flummoxed by it, how do you explain that to children?”

Mr Cronin said that he was aware that the parents of the boys had entered the deportation process. He knew that the father of the youngsters had already been arrested pending his deportation.

However, Mr Cronin was of the belief that their mother had an appointment with immigration services next month.

This won’t leave children for the rest of their lives, that have witnessed that, that have seen that – they're going to be scarred for life from this.

Mr Cronin said he wasn’t commenting on deportation laws as such. However, he feels that the way children are treated in the process should be given the “utmost priority".

“That that things are done in a respectful; a trauma-informed way.

This won’t leave children for the rest of their lives, that have witnessed that, that have seen that – they're going to be scarred for life from this.”

Mr Cronin said there is “such a sombre mood about the school” following what unfolded on Wednesday.

“It’s as if someone’s passed away,” he added.

Meanwhile, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan told RTÉ’s News at One earlier this week that persons on the flight to Nigeria were served with a deportation order and did not comply with it so a “consequence” was needed.

“People need to know if they are served with a deportation order, it has meaning, and the meaning is that you are not entitled to stay in Ireland.

If it is the case that you’re not permitted to stay — whether you have overstayed your work visa or haven’t been granted asylum — there must be a consequence.”

He added that gardaí, Department of Justice staff and prison officers had carried out a “difficult and challenging job".

The 21 men, nine women and five children departed on a chartered flight which left Dublin airport on Wednesday evening for Lagos.

Source: BreakingNews.ie | Irish News | Breaking News from Ireland