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The key question remains how many people are complying with deportation orders

Enforcing orders is complex, and it is hard to establish how many failed asylum seekers have actually left

Current trends suggest a record number of deportation orders will be issued this year. Photograph: iStock
Current trends suggest a record number of deportation orders will be issued this year. Photograph: iStock
Jennifer Bray's picture
Jennifer Bray
Tue Aug 13 2024 - 06:30

On the face of it, the Government is making good on its promise to issue deportation orders to anyone who entered the State as an asylum seeker but no longer has a right to be here.

Until mid-July, some 1,067 deportation orders have been issued, which is up from 948 for the entirety of last year, and 270 for the year previous to that. If this trend continues, there could be a record number of deportation orders issued this year, potentially well above 2,000.

Of the deportation orders issued so far this year, however, only 65 have been personally enforced by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), which is responsible for carrying out inquiries to confirm that people have removed themselves from the State.

More than 300 people left the State voluntarily, and after this there seems to be a gap in calculating how many failed asylum seekers have actually departed.

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Because there are no routine exit checks at Irish borders to verify whether every person has left the State, it is not actually possible to say exactly how many people departed without confirming with the Department of Justice..

[ Deportation orders issued in last six months exceed 1,000 ]

While Ministers have toughened up their language in recent months around the importance of seeing orders through, the reality is that deportation operations are complex and expensive. The orders require detection work, detentions in custody, challenges with obtaining travel documents and the cost of flights and other travel.

This is why there is a huge focus on the voluntary return programme. People who are eligible to take part in this benefit from assistance to reintegrate back into their home country. If the migrant goes through this process, a deportation order is not needed. In 2023, 213 individuals availed of a voluntary return, more than double the 2022 figure of 91. Last year’s figure was already surpassed by July 2024, with just over 300 people leaving the State under the programme.

In the last six months, Government policy has also shifted significantly.

Seven extra countries were added to the to the safe country list. Algeria and Botswana were added early this year and there has been a drop of more than 50 per cent in applications from these countries.

Extra resources have also been allocated at Dublin Airport to carry out “doorstop” operations on flights that pose risks of irregular migration. It is understood that more than 3,700 such operations were carried out in the first half of 2024.

The key question the Government will have to answer in advance of the next election are: is the State’s deportation policy working? And how many people have actually complied with their order?