Dáil Éireann debate -
Tuesday, 17 Dec 2002

Vol. 559 No. 5

Written Answers. - Deportation Orders.

Richard Bruton

Question:

338 Mr. R. Bruton asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for discrepancy in the number of deportation orders signed in 2001 and 2002; the number effected; the status of the 1,660 not deported in 2001 and the 1,668 not deported in 2002; and the number who are currently here. [26346/02]

Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform (Mr. McDowell)

A total of 4,320 deportation orders were made between 1 January 2001 and 12 December 2002 with the following results: over the same period 918 persons have been deported or left the State before their deportations could be effected. This represents an enforcement rate of over 20% which compares favourably with repatriation experiences in other EU states; 2,985 persons have evaded deportation or are not at the last address notified to the Department. It is not known how many of these are still in the State but it is suspected that many may have already left. Those remaining are now subject to arrest and detention and are being sought by the Garda National Immigration Bureau; and a further 178 deportations are at various stages of arrangements.

The majority of the remaining orders have been either revoked for legal reasons or the persons have been granted leave by the High Court to seek judicial review of the decision to deport them.

The increase in the numbers of orders made and effected in recent times as reflected in the figures above is attributed to the additional resources allocated to my Department's immigration division and to the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

On 16 and 23 July this year, the Garda carried out Operation Hyphen as part of its ongoing investigation to identify persons residing in the jurisdiction who have not complied with the immigration laws. A total of 140 persons were arrested on immigration related matters, including 16 persons evading deportation orders. A further 74 were charged with immigration related offences and one sought asylum. The remainder were released without charge. As a result of the operation, there has been a dramatic increase in the number of non-EEA nationals who are registering at the Garda National Immigration Bureau and at local Garda registration offices as they are required to do under the provisions of the Aliens Order 1946, as amended.

The immigration division of my Department actively encourages persons who might otherwise be deported to return voluntarily to their countries of origin and has enlisted the help of the International Organisation for Migration to assist with this task. Currently the IOM is focusing on the return of Romanians, Nigerians and CIS nationals. The number of persons who voluntarily repatriate has increased significantly over the past four years as evidenced by the figures below.

Year	Number of Returns
1999	37
2000	248
2001	356
2002*	456

*Up to 12/12/2002.