Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 8 December 2004
54 Mr. Gogarty asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his public statement that deported non-nationals should take their children with them even if those children are Irish citizens is the policy of his Department; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32579/04]
View answerAs I stated in reply to Questions Nos. 224, 225, 226, 227 and 239 on 16 November 2004, it is a matter for parents of a child who is not liable to be deported to make a decision on the welfare of that child if they are deported.
Ordinarily, parents have a duty as well as a right to provide properly for their children's upbringing and the Constitution recognises this duty. If parents acting in good faith leave their children in the care and custody of another appropriate person, the State will not interfere with those arrangements so long as the decision does not amount to a failure in the duty towards their child which would justify State intervention. There are no circumstances in which I can direct such children to leave the State and I would not wish to do so.
55 Mr. Sherlock asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the number of occasions since June 2002 on which aircraft have been chartered to facilitate the deportation of persons from this country; the cost involved in such charters; the number of persons deported in this way and the number who were children; the total overall costs involved, including Garda man hours; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32516/04]
View answerThe table contains details of dates, destinations, numbers deported, broken down into adults and minors, in so far as this information is available, and costs of the 11 repatriation charter flights that have taken place to date.
|
Date |
Destination |
Adults |
Minors |
Total |
Cost Euro |
|
9 January 2002 |
Algeria |
2 |
Nil |
2 |
29,833 |
|
28 March 2002 |
Nigeria |
6 |
Nil |
6 |
241,250 |
|
14 November 2002 |
Nigeria |
N/A |
N/A |
12* |
191,730 |
|
18 November 2003 |
Romania and Moldova |
N/A |
N/A |
24* |
92,490 |
|
28 November 2003 |
Romania and Bulgaria |
N/A |
N/A |
20* |
31,989 |
|
12 February 2004 |
Romania |
N/A |
N/A |
62* |
93,609 |
|
20 February 2004 |
Gambia |
1 |
Nil |
1 |
50,200 |
|
31 March 2004 |
Romania |
49 |
4 |
53 |
71,590 |
|
6 April 2004 |
Nigeria |
26 |
3 |
29 |
146,500 |
|
26 August 2004 |
Nigeria |
24 |
1 |
25 |
248,610 |
|
17 November 2004 |
Romania and Moldova |
56 |
10 |
66 |
82,700 |
*Note: A breakdown of the numbers deported between adults and minors is not readily available for four of the flights. To attempt to provide such a breakdown would require the Garda revisiting each of the 118 cases involved, which would entail a disproportionate use of time and resources.
The above costs include Garda expenses associated with these removal operations. The Garda Commissioner advises me that, given the wide range of immigration duties performed by the Garda Siochána and the Garda national immigration bureau in particular, it is not possible to identify the particular pay and overtime costs incurred by the gardaí in connection with these charter flights. He informs me that charter flights involve a lower ratio of Garda escorts to deportees than is the case using conventional schedule flights, resulting in savings to the Garda budget.
There are two main categories of repatriation charter flights: small charters, organised to remove disruptive deportees that commercial airlines will not take on account of previous disruptive behaviour on board aircraft, and big charters organised to return larger numbers of deportees in a more efficient way than using scheduled flights. Ireland does not have direct flights to the destinations where these charters have taken place. The alternative to chartering is transiting through hub European airports involving longer transfer times, more inconvenience to deportees and the attendant risk of deportees absconding in transit.
The use of charter flights, including joint charters shared by two or more countries, is accepted and used widely across the European Union as an effective and efficient means of returning persons illegally present on the territories of member states following individual consideration of their cases. The European Council of Ministers adopted a decision in April 2004 facilitating the greater use of joint repatriation flights as a means of demonstrating solidarity among member states, increasing the rate of returns and making more effective use of resources. Ireland has carried out two such joint operations with the Netherlands on 28 November 2003 to Romania and Bulgaria and with the UK to Romania and Moldova on 18 November 2003, details of which are provided in the table.
It is well established that an effective deportation process is a necessary element of an immigration system. The lack of an effective means to deport persons not granted permission to remain in the State would call into question the integrity of the entire immigration and asylum laws. Failure to enforce deportation orders in the case of disruptive behaviour would produce two main outcomes: it would send a clear signal that deportation can be avoided by simply being disruptive and disruptive behaviour by deportees on scheduled flights would become the norm, leading to concerns for the safety of passengers and staff on aircraft, and cause further difficulties for the gardaí in the already problematic task of enforcing deportation orders.
