There have been 37 cases of the parents of Irish-born children being deported between February of 2003 and last month.
The Minister for Justice told the Dáil that this was infinitesimal in comparison to the number of foreign nationals who claim to have Irish-born children.
Michael McDowell told deputies he did not know how many cases there were of children being left behind.
However, the minister pointed out that if the parents decided to leave the children in the charge of a responsible adult, there was nothing he could do about it.
Mr McDowell said he would not accept a situation where people evaded deportation by saying they would not comply with their legal duty to look after their children, or have them cared for by someone else.
