Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin (Cavan-Monaghan, Sinn Fein)
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264. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of deportations of Liberian nationals carried out each year since 2005. [17604/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that a Deportation Order requires a person to remove themselves from the State and it is only where they fail to do so that the State is forced to remove them and enforce the rule of law. The process leading to deportation is extensive with many avenues of appeal, including judicial review in the High Court, open to persons subject to Deportation Orders.

In determining whether to make a Deportation Order, the Minister must have regard to the factors set out in Section 3 (6) of the Immigration Act, 1999, as amended, and Section 5 (Prohibition of Refoulement) of the Refugee Act, 1996, as amended.

This essentially means that the safety of returning a person, or refoulement as it is commonly referred to, is fully considered in every case when deciding whether or not to make a Deportation Order i.e. that a person shall not be expelled from the State or returned in any manner whatsoever to a State where the life or freedom of that person would be threatened on account of his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.

I am informed by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that there were three persons who initially claimed asylum as Liberian nationals deported in 2011 and one deported in 2013.