The woman and child were being held at Dungavel

Mercy Ikolo and her 14-month-old daughter, Percile-Liz, will live with Scottish Socialist MSP Rosie Kane after being allowed to leave the Lanarkshire centre.

The pair, who have been held at the facility since 17 August, were were granted bail on a bond of �100 after the Home Office said it did not object the to family staying with Ms Kane.

The MSP said: "I am pleased that Mercy and her daughter will be able to leave Dungavel detention centre.

"I'm saddened they were ever in there in the first place."

Applying for residency

Ms Ikolo was detained by UK immigration authorities as she boarded a ferry from Stranraer to Ireland.

The 32-year-old, who is originally from Cameroon, moved to Dublin two years ago.

Her daughter was born in Ireland and she was applying for residency there on that basis.

Mercy and her daughter are more than welcome to stay with me for as long as necessary Rosie Kane Scottish Socialist MSP

Ms Ikolo was initially told that they would be deported to Uganda, but they were taken to Dungavel after she protested.

Officials in the UK claimed that she was detained because the Irish authorities did not want Ms Ikolo to return to the country.

Lawyer Aamer Anwar sought bail at an immigration appellate authority hearing in Glasgow.

He had been prepared to argue that the detention breached the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

However, the Home Office offered no objection to the mother and daughter going to live with Ms Kane pending the outcome of the asylum application.

The Socialist MSP and her two teenage daughters live in a two bedroom flat in Govanhill, Glasgow.

'A lot of warmth'

"Mercy and her daughter are more than welcome to stay with me for as long as necessary," she said.

"I'd offer my home to any mother or child in distress.

"I wish I could offer them more space but there's a lot of warmth there and it's better than the horrors of Dungavel."