Nine teenagers in Gort who completed their Leaving Cert last year could not progress to third level because their parents were born outside the European Union.
Galway East TD Anne Rabbitte highlighted the cases in the Dáil when she raised the plight of undocumented Brazilians living ‘in the shadows’ in South Galway.
These children, who have gone through the primary and secondary school education in Gort, are denied access to university and college, she said.
“They are petrified about communicating with services due to being undocumented. They believe they could end up in a worse scenario than children in direct provision and be deported,” said Deputy Rabbitte.
“These undocumented children have become an integral part of the community and are in education. When one considers their undocumented status, one must talk about the visa details that have been stamped on the passports.
“As a result, they can complete their Leaving Certificate course but they cannot access third level education. This year nine such children in Gort sat their leaving certificate examination. Unfortunately, none of them could get into third level education because of the passport stamp on the passports of their parents,” she added.
Deputy Rabbitte, the Fianna Fáil spokesperson on Children, was speaking at Joint Oireachtas Committee on Children and Youth Affairs where the Annual Report of Ombudsman for Children 2016 was being discussed.
Niall Muldoon of the Ombudsman’s office told the committee that the majority of people who contacted them came from the main urban centres of Dublin, Cork and Galway.
In 2016, the Ombudsman for Children received 1,682 new complaints, which was an increase of 3% on 2015 and a 47% jump since 2010.
“Of those who contacted us, 78% were parents and, as has been the case for many years, education was the most complained about issue, covering 46% of our complaints,” he said.
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