The State's attempt to separate a family of Croatian asylum-seekers by deporting the husband and son is facing a court challenge.
Ms Biljana Sinik, a member of the Serb minority in Croatia, has appealed to the Minister of Justice, Mr McDowell, not to deport her husband Miodrag, at least until her own asylum application has been dealt with.
Mr Sinik was arrested on Friday and taken to Mountjoy jail. He is expected to be deported this week.
Yesterday, Garda immigration tried to arrest his 14-year-old son Boris at the camp for asylum-seekers in Mosney, Co Meath, but could not find him there.
Ms Sinik's asylum application, and that of her 11-year-old daughter Dajana, have not been heard. They recently returned from Norway, where Ms Sinik travelled for medical treatment.
Doctors in Drogheda have diagnosed her as suffering from "severe post-traumatic disorder and depression" and say she is "at serious risk of suicide", having already made two suicide attempts.
Irish friends and local politicians in Co Meath, including Fine Gael TD Mr Fergus O'Dowd, have rallied to the support of the Siniks, whom they say are a model family and are well-integrated in the community.
Lawyers for the family say they will seek a judicial review in the High Court if the Minister does not accede to their request to defer the deportation on compassionate grounds.
The decision to deport Mr Sinik and his son highlights the growing strictness of the Irish asylum regime. On a previous occasion, the State has deported a person while his spouse was still in the asylum process.
However, in that case, involving a Nigerian couple, the man had a criminal record and there were doubts about the authenticity of the marriage.
In contrast, the Siniks have been married 16 years and there are the particular circumstances of Ms Sinik's medical problems.
Her husband has pleaded with the authorities that she would "not be able to survive on her own".
Until recently, the authorities were reluctant to send back asylum-seekers from area of recent conflict, such as the former Yugoslavia. The Siniks' home area of Vukovar, in the Krajina region, saw fierce fighting during the ethnic conflict which tore the region apart in the 1990s.
In 1995, the Croatian army took control of the Krajina after a brief war. Since then, the conflict has diminished, although human rights groups say ethnic Serbs in Croatia suffer serious discrimination.
Mr Sinik lost a brother and had his home destroyed in the war, and says he suffered intimidation because of his Croat background.
The family fled the fighting, first to Serbia/Montenegro and then to Norway. They returned home after their application for asylum was rejected, but left again for Ireland over two years ago.
"We heard that Ireland was good about refugees and we didn't need a visa," explains Ms Sinik, nervously chain-smoking in her flat in in Mosney.
On medical advice, the family was moved to the camp from the single room they shared in Drogheda, which is isolated but more spacious.
When his wife continued to suffer from depression, Mr Sinik suggested she return to Norway for medical treatment. However, while they were away, the authorities here processed and rejected the asylum claims of her husband and son.
The family has adapted well to living in Co Meath; Mr Sinik helped to coach a local soccer team and his son plays on the Louth U-14 GAA football team.
