Vol. 520 No. 3
110 Mr. Callely asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the process when a deportation order is made for a person to be deported from here; if he will indicate the total number of airline reservations that were made to accommodate the deportation; the number of airline reservations that were used; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [15414/00]
Section 3 of the Immigration Act, 1999, sets out the provisions for the making of deportation orders. Once a deportation order is made, section 3(9)(a) of the Act requires that the person is notified to present himself or herself to such person and at such date, time and place as may be specified for the purpose of his or her deportation from the State. Prior to the issue of this notice, travel and escort arrangements are put in place.
Since the implementation of the Immigration Act, airline reservations have been made on foot of deportation orders in respect of a total of 198 persons, plus Garda escorts. Thirty persons have been deported to date. The remaining reservations were cancelled, at no cost to the State, when it became clear that the persons involved either were not going to turn up for deportation, initiated judicial review proceedings, were not deported on the basis of advice from the Attorney General's office or, in a small number of cases, had already left the State before the date and time notified for deportation. In a further case, it did not prove possible to obtain visas for the escorting Garda officers in order to effect the deportation.
