Gardaí defend their actions in row over birth on board ferry

June 2003

Garda immigration officials in Rosslare Harbour have defended their action in turning back a heavily-pregnant Romanian woman who subsequently gave birth on board the Irish Ferries boat to Roscoff in France.

The incident happened last Friday after the woman, who is in her mid-30s, arrived on The Normandy ferry at Rosslare from Cherbourg with her husband and two-year-old child.

A spokesman for immigration gardaí in Rosslare has indicated that Sunday newspaper reports which suggested that the woman was summarily placed back on the ferry after being refused entry into Ireland without a fair hearing did not present the full story.

Outlining garda involvement in the incident, the spokesman said that the family was stopped at immigration at approximately 10.45 a.m. on Friday and was asked to wait so they could be interviewed.

As the immigration officers on duty were checking other people through, the couple drove off at speed in the direction of Wexford.

A short time later, a member of the public telephoned the gardaí to report a sighting of suspicious activity on the side of the main Rosslare road at Killinick.

According to the garda spokesman, the couple met other non-nationals at Killinick and switched cars. The number of the second car was given to the gardaí by the person who telephoned.

As a result of this information, the car was observed by gardaí in Enniscorthy, travelling at high speed. The couple were stopped and detained at Enniscorthy garda station, where attempts were made to identify them.

Computer checks showed that the Czech passports presented by the pair at Rosslare Harbour were false.

It was also discovered that the couple had previously been in Ireland and had applied for asylum but were refused. Following this, they were the subject of deportation orders.

The immigration officers who stopped them in Rosslare went to Enniscorthy on Friday afternoon to identify them as the couple who had been reported missing earlier that day.

At that stage, it was discovered that they had no legal basis for entering the country, and they were refused entry, said the garda spokesman. They were brought back to Rosslare at approximately 5 p.m. and placed on the ferry shortly after 6 p.m. The vessel sailed at 7 p.m.

At no point did either the woman or her husband seek medical attention or make a complaint in relation to her condition, he said. ‘You could see that she was pregnant. They told me that the baby was due in six weeks.’

Investigating officers ascertained that the couple and their child had flown from Bucharest to Paris before boarding The Normandy in Cherbourg.

The husband explained that he had bought the false passports.

A few hours after The Normandy set sail, the ship’s captain received a report that a pregnant woman was going into labour. Within minutes, the woman had given birth. The captain radioed the British coastguard which organised a doctor to be flown by helicopter and winched down onto the vessel.

He examined the woman and determined that she and the baby were in good health. The alert was also raised in France and when The Normandy docked in Roscoff, there was an ambulance and medical crew waiting to take mother and baby to hospital.

However, the woman refused the offer of additional medical help and walked off the ship and through the terminal building carrying her newborn baby in her arms, according to the garda spokesman.

Defending the decision to turn the woman back, he said that as far as garda immigration officers were concerned, the couple had no legal basis for entering the country and it was explained to them that they would first have to go to an Irish embassy and obtain a visa with valid passports.

‘It was a well-planned and clear case of attempted illegal entry into the country,’ the spokesman said.