Italy and France use Dublin airport for deportations

A GROUP of Ghanaian nationals was deported from Dublin yesterday, having been assembled here from a number of European countries before being sent home.

In what is believed to be the first such joint-deportation from the Republic, gardaí arranged with several law enforcement agencies from across Europe to fly a group of illegal immigrants from Ghana to their home country on a single, chartered flight.

The group was deported by the Irish, Italian and French authorities on board a 737 aircraft which departed Dublin airport yesterday afternoon. News of the plan was kept secret for security reasons.

Only one of those who travelled was deported by the Irish authorities. The man has just completed a term of imprisonment for drug dealing and, as is increasingly common with serious foreign national offenders, he was deported straight from prison.

Gardaí did not want to deport just one person on the aircraft, which seats around 110 people, and so offered other EU states seats for any Ghanaians they were waiting to deport. The multinational operation was assisted by the EU border security agency, Frontex. It co-ordinates co-operation between members states in the management of external borders. Based in Warsaw, it also offers practical advice in organising multinational deportations like that from Dublin yesterday.

The French and the Italians both took up the offer from Ireland and transported a number of Ghanaians to the Republic yesterday to catch the flight to Accra, the Ghanaian capital.

The French police force flew four Ghanaian nationals they were waiting to deport to Dublin airport on board a French police aircraft. The Italian police sent a team of their officers with one Ghanaian on a scheduled flight to Dublin.

The combined group of six deportees were then put on the charter flight from Dublin. Each was accompanied by a team of police officers from the three states executing the deportations. A Garda security team was also on board to supervise the operation, bringing the number of police officers on board to 25.

The Ghanaian man deported from Ireland completed his sentence for drug dealing and was due to be deported last month. Members of the Garda National Immigration Bureau were due to accompany him on board scheduled flights from Dublin to Accra via Germany.

He has been held in custody since then while the aircraft used in yesterday's operation was being hired. The cost of yesterday's flight is unknown but the operation is believed to have cost at least €100,000.