Helen McEntee (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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A deportation order is a legal order to leave the State. Any person who has been ordered to leave the State and fails to do so is committing a criminal offence, and can be arrested without warrant if they come into contact with An Garda Síochána. Such an order may remain on the person’s record permanently subject to review by the Minister on request by the person concerned. The existence of a deportation order means they cannot enter Ireland again in future, and it will likely also have an impact on their ability to travel to the UK and the EU.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) carries out inquiries to confirm that people have removed themselves from the State and works closely with my Department to enforce deportations where this is not the case. We know that a much larger number of people will have left the State voluntarily, but as there are no exit checks at Irish borders, it is not possible to accurately quantify this number.

Enforced deportation operations are complex and costly. They often involve investigations, detection, detentions in custody, legal challenges, flights costs and confirmation with the return Country that the person is their citizen.

Alternatives to forced removals are therefore typically preferred. Most people ordered to leave the State will comply, and my Department provides assistance through a voluntary return programme to some who will benefit from some assistance to reintegrate in their home country.

The below table sets out the number of DOs issued each year for the years 2019 to 2023 and to date in 2024; and the number of DOs enforced by GNIB. To date in 2014 513 Deportation Orders have been signed, 330 of which have already been issued; the remainder will issue in due course.

Year	DOs Issued	Total confirmed Deportations (GNIB Enforced Deports & otherwise confirmed)	DOs otherwise confirmed (1)	DOs enforced by GNIB (2)	Dublin iii Transfers (3)	EU Removals (4)	Voluntary Returns (5)	All Returns
2019	2005	298	143	155	30	64	261	653
2020	872	140	97	43	15	33	201	389
2021	29	38	33	5	4	42	132	216
2022	270	118	92	26	3	37	91	249
2023	948	80	28	52	3	21	213	317
2024 (to 14/04/24)	330	32	5	27	1	5	116	154

*Please note, figures are correct at time of issue, however, all statistics may be subject to data cleansing.

*During the COVID- 19 Pandemic there was a moratorium on deportations. This was effective during the latter part of 2020, 2021 and for the first 8 months of 2022. During the moratorium only persons whose presence in Ireland would be contrary to the public interest were deported. This moratorium was lifted in July 2022.

*Numbers deported may relate to deportation orders issued in a previous year.

1. Information has come to hand or by inquiry to the effect that the individual has left the state following receipt of a DO.
2. Person escorted from the state by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB).
3. Transfer to another EU State to have their application for International Protection examined.
4. EU Citizen removed from the State under the Free Movement Regulations (generally criminals).
5. Persons who availed of the voluntary return programme without getting a deportation order.

My Department are taking a number of steps to strengthen immigration enforcement, including deportations:

1. The Department of Justice is taking over immigration registration function, freeing up to 100 Gardaí for other enforcement work
2. A tender has commenced for a charter plane to return unsuccessful IP applicants to their home country

One of the objectives of the EU Migration Pact is to make the deportation system more efficient to operate (e.g. we will send a take back notification to another EU member state, instead of a take back request). This will be particularly important for Ireland due to the high degree of secondary movement (i.e. an applicant already has applied for or gained international protection in another country, and then seeks to claim protection here.)