Dan Boyle (Cork South Central, Green Party)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the company which was contracted to undertake charter flights for deportees out of Ireland prior to the appointment of a company (details supplied) in March 2005; the number of flights since May 2002; the costs for the charter of aeroplanes and the number of deportees; the breakdown by nationality of those deported; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10860/05]

Tommy Broughan (Dublin North East, Labour)
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Question 131: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of occasions since June 2002 on which aircraft have been chartered to facilitate the deportation of persons from this country; the total cost involved in such charters; the total number of persons deported in this way and the number who were children; the overall costs involved, including Garda man hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [10763/05]

Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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Question 711: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of deportations which have occurred since June 2002; the date of each such deportation flight; the destination of same; the number of deportees; the number of gardaí on each flight; the number of other security personnel on each flight; and the total cost of each flight. [10516/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 127, 131 and 711 together.

From January 2002 to date, 13 charter flights have been engaged for the purpose of deportation of persons illegally residing in the State. A total of 376 persons were deported in this way at a total cost of €1,628,201. Details of these charter flights, that is, dates, destinations, numbers deported — broken down into adults and minors, in so far as this information is available — and individual costs are as shown in the table supplied at the end of this answer.

The above costs include Garda expenses associated with these removal operations. I am advised by the Garda Commissioner that, given the wide range of immigration duties performed by the Garda Siochána and the Garda National Immigration Bureau in particular, it is not possible to identify the particular pay and overtime costs incurred by the Garda in relation to these charter flights. However, the Commissioner informs me that charter flights involve a lower ratio of Garda escorts to deportees than is the case using conventional schedule flights, resulting in savings to the Garda budget.

The number of escorting gardaí on each flight varies as it is dependent on a prior risk assessment of each removal operation carried out by the Garda National Immigration Bureau and on the policy of the particular airline. Given the large number of removal operations, it would involve a disproportionate use of Garda time and resources to provide details of the exact escort numbers used in each case. However, it is usual for two escorts to accompany a single deportee with a lower ratio used where more than one person is being removed to the same destination and on board charter flights.

There are two main categories of repatriation charter flights. Smaller charters that are organised to remove disruptive deportees that commercial airlines will not take on account of previous disruptive behaviour on board aircraft and bigger charters organised to return larger numbers of deportees in a more efficient way than using schedule flights. It should be stated that Ireland does not have direct flights to the destinations where these charters have taken place. The alternative to chartering is transiting through hub European airports involving longer transfer times, more inconvenience to deportees and the attendant risk of deportees absconding in transit.

The use of charter flights, including joint charters shared by two or more countries, are accepted and used widely across the European Union as an effective and efficient means of returning persons illegally present on the territories of member states following individual consideration of their cases. The European Council of Ministers adopted a decision in April 2004 facilitating the greater use of joint repatriation flights as a means of demonstrating solidarity among member states, increasing the rate of returns and making more effective use of resources.

Ireland has carried out two such joint operations with the Netherlands on 28 November 2003 to Romania and Bulgaria and with the UK to Romania and Moldova on 18 November 2003 — details of which are provided in the table set out below.

It is well established that an effective deportation process is a necessary element of an immigration system. The lack of an effective means to deport persons not granted permission to remain in the State would call into question the integrity of the entire immigration and asylum laws. Failure to enforce deportation orders in the case of disruptive behaviour would produce two main outcomes. First, it would send a clear signal that deportation can be avoided by simply being disruptive. Second, disruptive behaviour by deportees on scheduled flights would become the norm leading to concerns for the safety of passengers and staff on aircraft and cause further difficulties for the gardaí in the already problematic task of enforcing deportation orders.

Two companies were involved in the provision of suitable aircraft for the removal of deportees by charter flights prior to the appointment of Air Partner Plc as approved service providers in February 2005. These companies were Fly Ireland and Swiftair Aviation Limited. The companies were contracted individually for each charter flight.