A PREGNANT woman gave birth aboard an Irish Ferries ship yesterday after she was turned back by immigration officials at Rosslare. The event occurred as it emerged that Department of Justice and the gardaí have told the government that refusing asylum seekers leave to enter Ireland at ports and airports is saving the exchequer at least 12,700 for every refusal.

The revelation comes just a day after a Romanian woman was forced to give birth on a ferry yesterday, after immigration officials refused her entry to Ireland.

The woman was one of six people deported from the country on Friday and ordered to return to France on the Irish Ferries boat, The Normandy, from Rosslare to Roscoff. She went into labour at 12.30am and was treated by a nurse who was a passenger on the ship. The crew later arranged for a doctor to be airlifted on to the vessel by a Royal Navy helicopter from Cornwall.

Irish Ferries spokesman Don Hall said the woman was travelling with her husband and one child. Immigration gardaí said they were unaware of any of the six being in need of medical attention. When asked about official procedures for ill or heavily pregnant immigrants, a garda spokesman said, "We were happy that the woman was fit enough to travel." The six were refused entry when it was discovered they were carrying false papers.