But the prospect of his early death inNigeria was not enough to move Minister McDowell, who deported the little boy and his family in his last hours in of"ce IT WAS one of Michael McDowell's last decisions in office, and it could be one of Brian Lenihan's first.

When the new minister for justice arrives in work tomorrow, he will face a barrage of correspondence asking him not to deport a six-year-old boy with autism.

Great Agbonlahor and his family reported for possible deportation on Friday, but were not detained and were told to report back to the Gardai in a month's time.

The little boy, who lives in Tralee with his mother Olivia and twin sister Melissa, has been diagnosed with ADHD, an illness on the spectrum of autism disorders. The family has been living in Ireland since seeking asylum here in 2003. Their application for asylum was rejected, as was their subsequent appeal to the minister for justice, Michael McDowell, to be allowed stay here in order to obtain treatment for Great. A deportation order was issued and the family sought a judicial review in the High Court, but this failed.

Then, last Tuesday, Olivia Agbonlahor received a letter from McDowell reaffirming his intention to deport her and her children. She was instructed to report to the Gardai for deportation on Friday, the day after the appointment of the new cabinet. Her lawyers decided to seek an injunction against the deportation, in order to allow the family to apply to the new minister for justice for permission to remain in Ireland.

The Agbonlahors and their supporters believed that, with McDowell no longer in office, they should be entitled to have the new minister for justice decide whether to proceed with the deportation.

They also believed they should be allowed apply for a new legal status called 'subsidiary protection', which was introduced into Irish law in October 2006.

Following Tuesday's letter, the Agbonlahors' lawyers informed the Department of Justice they would seek an interim injunction against the deportation, and would apply for subsidiary protection. On Thursday, just hours before the announcement of the new cabinet, department officials replied that this application would not be considered.

On Friday afternoon, Olivia Agbonlahor and her twin children reported for deportation at the Garda National Immigration Bureau on Burgh Quay in Dublin. At the same time, the Agbonlahors' senior counsel, Cormac O Dullachain, was in the High Court seeking to have the deportation stopped.

Mr Justice Eamon de Valera deferred hearing the application till tomorrow, and expressed displeasure at the level of media coverage of the case, saying he did not live "in a little bubble".

Meanwhile, immigration officers gave the Agbonlahors a stay of one month, instructing them to report back to the immigration bureau on 19 July.

This lessens the urgency of any injunction and will allow the Agbonlahors' lawyers time to make representations to the new Minister for Justice.

More sympathetic Supporters and friends of the Agbonlahors have already written to Lenihan, asking him not to go ahead with the deportation, and have launched an email lobbying campaign. They hope Lenihan's background as minister for children may make him more sympathetic to Great's plight.

Rosanna Flynn of Residents Against Racism, who has come to know Olivia and her children well over the past couple of years while supporting their fight to stay here, said: "These children now are Irish children. They know nothing else . . . they've been here since they were three years old. They've never been to Nigeria.

[They were born in Italy, where Olivia was then living with her husband. ] Great is doing so well, given his condition, because of the way Ireland has nurtured him till now."

Both children are at school, and Melissa in particular is doing very well. "It's unthinkable that they be deported, " said Flynn, adding that there was "huge support" for them, especially in Clonakilty, where they were living till last year, and where they are "really loved".

According to a Nigerian expert cited by the Agbonlahors' lawyers in the judicial review case, there is just one private school in Nigeria that caters for children with special needs, and that caters for children with Down's Syndrome. The Agbonlahors' lawyers also argued that Great's condition would result in him and his family being ostracised from Nigerian society.

In the judicial review case, Mr Justice Kevin Feeney said that the law in this regard was "an austere one" and said the lack of treatment in Nigeria would need to "result in the likely death" of Great for it to be sufficiently serious grounds for him to overturn Michael McDowell's decision.

Caroline Odekunle, a Nigerian now resident in Ireland, and who works as a carer for people with learning disabilities, said: "If they deport that boy back home, there's nothing for him. There is no life for people with any kind of a disability."