John Curran (Dublin Mid West, Fianna Fail)
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109. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of deportation orders that existed at the start of 2016 and 2017 respectively; the number of persons that were deported during 2016; the amount it cost to deport them; the top country of origin for deportations [4065/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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I wish to inform the Deputy that like all countries Ireland is required to manage immigration into the State and, where appropriate, to deport people who do not have a right to be here. A decision to deport a person is never taken lightly. Only persons who are illegally present in the State fall within the scope to be considered for deportation.

It should be noted 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.

There were 1195 Deportation Orders signed in 2016 and 61 have been signed so far in 2017. 428 persons were deported in 2016 and the flight costs for those deportations was EUR 698,814.28.

The top 5 countries for deportation by nationality in 2016 were:

(1) Nigeria

(2) China (incl. Hong Kong)

(3) Ghana

(4) Brazil

(5) Albania and South Africa