Forty-seven Romanian gypsies who were smuggled into Ireland in freight containers last month have had their applications for asylum rejected and been told to leave the State within 14 days.
The decision is one of the fastest made by the Department of Justice, which normally takes years to process asylum applications. It is believed the Department is anxious to send out a strong signal to deter more gypsies from coming to Ireland.
The group, which includes 27 adults and 20 children, has been staying at a holiday hostel in Castleblayney, Co Monaghan, since the start of the month. Staff at the hostel say the gypsies, who come from Arad, in eastern Romania, are "extremely upset" at the prospect of being deported.
All are expected to appeal their decisions within the next fortnight. In most appeal cases, the original decision is upheld.
The group spent two nights in the claustrophobic interior of the containers before being discovered by gardai in Rosslare. They say that, as members of the Roma ethnic minority in Romania, they suffer persecution and discrimination.
Unusually, the decisions were made not on the basis of the Dublin Convention but on the Department's assessment of the merit of each asylum application. The convention provides for the return of asylum-seekers who have arrived in Ireland from another EU state.
Since the Romanians had arrived in Ireland on a ferry from Cherbourg, it might have been assumed they would be sent back to France.
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, which supervises the treatment of asylum-seekers, was still under the impression last night that the group was being treated under the Dublin Convention. "We accept that there are sufficient safeguards for them to be returned to France, which has agreed to hear their cases," a spokeswoman in London said.
A Department spokesman said that the adults in the group had been interviewed about their asylum application on August 4th and 5th. As dependent minors, the children were not interviewed. Each interview lasted about three hours and was conducted using Romanian-speaking interpreters. Refusal letters were issued to all of the adults last Friday.
Ms Joan Langan, administrator of the hostel at the Lough Muckno Leisure Park, which is accommodating the group, said the gypsies had adjusted well to life in Co Monaghan. "There was never any problem with them and they were fitting in well."
She said: "They're one of the quietest groups we've had. At least we're not sitting up all night wondering in what shape they'll roll in." She added: "Since the decision, the women have become very depressed and the children have become clingy."
Volunteers at the hostel say the gypsies, who are reluctant to "open up" to outsiders, are communicating through a local French-speaker.
Two women were pregnant when they arrived, and one has since given birth. This child, Micula-Lamita Elisabeta, is an Irish citizen and automatically entitled to stay here.
More than 200 Romanian asylum-seekers came to Ireland last month, most of them by hiding in lorries travelling from Cherbourg to Rosslare. Since French authorities tightened security at their ports, the number arriving has fallen off dramatically. A group of eight Romanians applied for asylum in Galway last week.
According to the Department, 3,065 applications for asylum were received in the year to the end of July. Fifty-three people were granted refugee status. Extra staff have been appointed to deal with the backlog of outstanding applications, which exceeds 6,000.
