Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party)
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Question 99: To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of persons that were part of the mass deportation to Nigeria on 7 March 2012; the number of those deported that were children; and if the Frontex charter company was used to carry out the deportations. [14728/12]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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A total of 21 persons, subject to Deportation Orders issued following due process, were removed from Ireland and returned to Lagos, Nigeria on 7th March, 2012 in accordance with the law. The individuals in question were all failed asylum seekers or persons otherwise found to be in breach of their permission to be in the State. A number of the deportees had been convicted of serious criminal offences for which they served prison sentences. The returnees consisted of 7 adult males, 6 adult females and 8 minors. The return was part of an operation led by Austria via Spain to Nigeria and organised through the EU FRONTEX network.

Frontex http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_language(European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union) is the European Union agency for external border security. It is responsible for coordinating the activities of the national border guards in ensuring the security of the EU's borders with non-member states.

Frontex was established by Council Regulation (EC) 2007/2004. The agency became operational on 3 October 2005 and was the first EU agency to be based in one of the new EU states.

Frontex's mission is to help EU Member States implement EU rules on external border controls and to coordinate operational cooperation between Member States in the field of external border management. While it remains the task of each member state to control its own borders, the Agency is vested with the function to ensure that they all do so with the same high standard of efficiency.

Frontex also assists EU Member States and Schengen-associated countries in the co-ordination of return flights. In the event that somebody is determined by a Member State government to be staying in that country illegally, they may be asked to leave. Many do so voluntarily, but those who do not may be returned to their country of origin by the Member State concerned. In these cases, it is Frontex's role to coordinate repatriation activities between those countries to ensure that humanitarian standards are met and to maximise efficiency and cost-effectiveness in joint return operations. Together with the experts from the Member States and refugee and asylum organisations, Frontex is also involved in identifying best practices in this area.

Frontex is not a company in the manner implied by the Deputy and its operations in Ireland, as elsewhere in the EU, are subject to Council Regulation (EC) 2007/2004.