Two-year-old Iancu Muntean, pictured with his parents Loredana and Iancu Sr at their home in Meadowbrook, Athlone, last October.

State offers compensation to Roma families whose children were removed

The Government has offered to compensate the Roma families in Athlone and Tallaght whose young children were wrongly taken from them last year.

An Taoiseach Enda Kenny, Justice Minister Frances Fitzgerald and acting Garda Commissioner Noirin O'Sullivan apologised to the families after the publication on Tuesday of a report into the case by Children's Ombudsman.

'The State is sorry. We regret the pain that they went through. It should not have happened. It just should not,' said Minister Fitzgerald. 'It happened out of a determination to protect children, but that determination got skewed.'

In the Athlone case, Gardai removed two-year Iancu Muntean Jr from his family in Meadowbrook, Willow Park, on the evening of October 22 last due to concerns over his identity. The boy was returned to his parents the following day.

Ms Logan's report found that Garda actions in the Athlone case 'conforms with the definition of ethnic profiling.'

Speaking in the Dail on Tuesday, the Taoiseach said: 'These kind of events should not happen to anybody in our jurisdiction, and nobody can afford to stand over that or can stand over it.”

The Justice Minister met with the Athlone and Tallagh-based families on Tuesday and issued an apology to them in person.