A woman, who said being a carer for her children is preventing her from getting her husband over to Ireland, is appealing to the Government to 'put her family back together'.
Donegal mother Emma met Lawson, who is originally from Zimbabwe, when she was in South Africa to get treatments for her daughter Michaela's medical condition.
The pair married in 2018 but Lawson is unable to get permission to enter Ireland to see Emma and their child, Sabina.
Emma told Lunchtime Live she took her oldest daughter over to South Africa for holistic treatments on the advice of her GP.
"My husband was his next door neighbour, so he kind of introduced us over the garden wall," she said.
"She has a genetic condition called Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome... it basically means that her collagen gene is defective.
"As she gets older and the hormones are released, she would have always had some problems, but as she gets older she becomes more physically disabled.
"When she was five or six, yes she had health problems, but she was running around and going to school and doing most things every other five-year-old would do.
"Whereas now she would suffer seven to eight dislocations of different joints a day".
Sponsorship
Emma said she made several trips with her daughter to South Africa and kept in touch with Lawson.
"It was 2017 when we got engaged on Valentine's Day in 2017," she said.
"Lawson had never been allowed to come to Ireland - basically, he has to have a sponsor in Ireland who invites him.
"I would have invited him but I can't sponsor him; family carers are not allowed to sponsor their spouses.
"Technically carers are seen as in receipt of a social welfare payment.
"If you are in receipt of a social welfare payment you cannot sponsor your spouse".
Emma with Lawson and their children. Image: SuppliedEmma said their daughter Sabina was born prematurely in July 2019 in Ireland, but Lawson wasn't there.
"He wasn't allowed emergency entry when she was born because you can't have more than visa application in at a time.
"He had applied to come again and you can put the application in as many times as you like.
"So, he had put the application in and they said it can take six months, it can take a year for your decesion.
"It just depends on the volume of applications they have."
Video calls
Emma said she took Sabina to see her father last year, due to COVID-19 related delays.
"I couldn't go into South Africa because all the borders were closed, they had one of the strictest lockdowns.
"We couldn't get a passport for Sabina because the Passport Office had been closed here.
"We video call three or four times a day... but that is not the same as holding your child.
"When somebody calls you and tells you that your wife has been taken into theatre at 32 weeks and your child is being born that day, he still says he will never get over that".
'We have been apart long enough'
Emma said his latest visa application was denied.
"The grounds were that we put in for a visitor's visa instead of a long-stay visa, because they wouldn't grant the long-stay visa," she said.
"They said no because he may gain employment and not leave the country and... because I'm in receipt of a social welfare payment you do not meet the financial criteria to sponsor your husband.
"My family have been apart long enough and it's time for us to be put back together.
"We're together but we're not together," she added.
Emma said she's not sure where to go from here after a number of TDs, including Agriculture Minister Charlie McConalogue, made representations on her behalf.
She has also requested a meeting with Justice Minister Helen McEntee.
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