A woman who had been living in Cork while applying for asylum said all she now wanted was to be able to leave the country with her family, after her father and brother were jailed pending deportation. Her father and brother said they were sharing the same bed in a cell with four other men in Cloverhill Prison. "My father and brother cannot be released until the flight. “My father's not sleeping because he's worried about my brother, they're in a jail cell with criminals," Ms Breetzke said. But the family says they have been so traumatised by their time in Ireland, with their father and brother jailed, they just want to leave as soon as possible, regardless of any legal implications to their deportation orders.

Source: Irish Examiner February 19, 2026 09:01 UTC