Martin Ferris (Kerry North, Sinn Fein)
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Question 387: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if it is his policy to offer convicted prisoners here, who are citizens of other states, voluntary deportation before their sentences are complete; if so, the number of people who have been deported under this procedure; and the countries to which they were deported. [28078/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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My policy, and that of my predecessors, is to ensure that any foreign national who finds himself, or herself, illegally present in the State and who has been convicted of an offence in the State, should serve the sentence handed down by the Courts. In certain circumstances, however, where prisoners are approaching the end of their periods of detention and there has been consultation between the Garda National Immigration Bureau, the Irish Prison Service and officials in my Department, foreign nationals subject to Deportation Orders may be removed from the State in accordance with Immigration law. The enforcement of Deportation Orders is an operational matter for the Bureau.

There is no statistical mechanism currently in place to determine the numbers of persons removed under the circumstances outlined above, however the numbers involved are small.