Department of Justice pays €160,000 to deport asylum seekers

The Department of Justice paid nearly €160,000 to deport failed African asylum seekers on four chartered flights out of Dublin. However, the department refuses to say how many were carried on each flight.

The Co Kildare-based DSV Air and Sea Ltd and Air Partners plc were paid €154,573 for four chartered flights from Dublin. One DSV flight to Madrid, which linked up with a Nigeria-bound charter, cost €39,270.

Deportations

The 2015 annual review by the State’s Naturalisation and Immigration Service confirmed the numbers of failed asylum seekers or illegal migrants deported last year more than doubled to 251, up from 111 in 2014.

Air Partners plc was paid €58,900 for a charter flight to Rome which linked up with another Lagos-bound flight.

A department spokesman said it co-operated with other EU states to send asylum seekers back to their country of origin.

"These charters were run in conjunction with the European Union agency, Frontex."

Besides the numbers deported by the State, 3,451 foreign nationals were refused entry at ports and airports. Brazilians and Albanians comprised nearly a 10th of the numbers each.