merrion street

This morning, 23 persons (19 men and 4 women) who had been served with Deportation Orders were removed from the State as part of an Irish-led Frontex operation, in cooperation with Belgium and Iceland.

Enforced removals are carried out as a measure of last resort when the person concerned has not removed themselves from the State or engaged with the International Office for Migration (IOM) to avail of assisted voluntary return measures.

The persons concerned were Georgian and Albanian nationals and the flight left Dublin Airport with planned stops in Tirana, Albania and Tbilisi, Georgia. 

They were accompanied on the Frontex-chartered flight by 2 medical staff and 2 Frontex monitors, as well as officers from the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB). 

A person subject to a Deportation Order has no legal basis to remain in the State. Each individual case to remain in the State had been considered in detail and all available appeals processes had been exhausted. 

Note for Editors:

• The Department of Justice and Equality engages the International Office for Migration (IOM) to operate voluntary return programmes, which assist persons to return to their countries of origin.

• These programmes offer assistance, including payment of flights, a small payment to assist deportees to re-establish themselves in their country of origin as well as assistance to resettle themselves upon arrival.

• This is the preferred method of removing persons from the State and enforced removals are considered only as a matter of last resort.

• Ten of the people removed from the State today had been availing of accommodation services provided by the Department of Justice and Equality through Direct Provision.

• Frontex is the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency.