Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)

I do not have the figure for the proportion of those returning voluntarily who had been served with a deportation order. With regard to the mode of return, when a person is issued with a notice of intention to deport - the 15-day letter - he or she is given the option, among others, of returning voluntarily to his or her country and is provided with contact details of the International Organisation for Migration. The IOM has informed us that since the programme's inception in 2001, it has assisted a total of 2,716 people in returning to their countries of origin up to September of this year.

As per the memorandum of understanding signed between my Department and the IOM, the estimated total budget for 2010 is €1.447 million, which is broken down into two parts: the voluntary assisted return and re-integration programme, which is funded by the Department and has a budget of €958,584, and the new targeted irregular migrants programme, which has an estimated budget of €488,449. Funding for this new programme will be provided by the Department of Justice and Law Reform but it is co-financed by the European Return Fund. A target of 205 returns under the original programme was set in 2010, with the programme running to 31 December 2010.

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