Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 20 June 2012
13 Deputy Catherine Murphy asked the Minister for Justice and Equality if he will provide a breakdown of the costs in 2009, 2010, 2011 and to date in 2012 of repatriating unsuccessful asylum and visa applicants; if he will provide a table of the individual incidents of repatriation including the cost, destination and total number of persons repatriated per incident; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29711/12]
Amharc ar fhreagraThe majority of failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants including persons refused entry into the State, persons who are removed as a result of being made subject to a Deportation Order, persons who were transferred under the Dublin Regulation to the EU member state in which they first applied for asylum and EU nationals who were returned to their countries of origin on foot of an EU Removal Order are removed using scheduled commercial flights as appropriate. As there have been approximately 10,000 such persons removed overall in the period in question, it is not possible to give details of the cost, destination and number of persons removed on each such individual scheduled commercial flight.
It should be noted that approximately 90% of these removals related to persons refused leave to land in the State. To put it in context, tens of millions people entered the State in the period in question. In the great majority of the refusals of leave to land cases, any costs arising are borne by the carrier. Removals on foot of Deportation Orders which are carried out using commercial flights usually involve transit through other European airports as Ireland does not have direct flights to most of the countries of return. In addition, most flights have to be booked at short notice, near to the date of departure, which involves higher costs than if booked well in advance.
The remainder of failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants who are made subject to Deportation Orders are removed by charter flights contracted by the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS). These flights are usually organised in conjunction with other EU Member States through FRONTEX (the European Agency for the Management of Operational Cooperation at the External Borders of the Member States of the European Union). In most cases, such joint charter operations which Ireland has participated in during the period in question are partially or fully funded through the FRONTEX budget.
The details of the number of persons returned and costs per charter flight for each of the years in question are set out in the table beneath. In many cases, where Ireland participates in a FRONTEX-organised flight which is led by another EU member State, Ireland will only have to charter a plane one-way to the European city where the FRONTEX charter is departing from. After the return of the FRONTEX flight to the other European city following the return of the deportees, the Garda escorts will return to Ireland on scheduled commercial flights.
On occasions Ireland has been the lead country on flights and has had responsibility for the cost of the aircraft from Ireland to the country of return and back to Ireland. This cost which is substantially higher than chartering a plane to a European city also includes the provision of an airline crew, ground support at the airports for baggage handling, provision of food to returnees and escorts and also the provision of a medical team on the flight. In addition, some flights are fully funded by FRONTEX, while others, such as flights organised under the European Return Fund are only entitled to a partial refund.
In considering the costs of the removal of failed asylum seekers and illegal immigrants, the considerable expense arising from the continued presence in the State of persons who are the subject of deportation or removal orders has to be taken into account. These costs include social welfare costs, direct provision costs, and detention costs in certain cases. While it is important to keep deportation and removal costs to a minimum, not to remove persons refused permission to remain in the State would call into question the integrity of the entire immigration system. This would leave this country open to further illegal immigration and even more expense to taxpayers.
Finally, Ireland, like other EU member states, uses deportation of illegal immigrants and failed asylum seekers as the policy of last resort. The process leading to a deportation is extensive with many avenues of appeal, including judicial review in the High Court, open to persons subject to Deportation Orders. It should also be noted that a Deportation Order requires a person to remove themselves from the State and it is only where they fail to do so that the State is forced to remove them and enforce the rule of law.
|
Cost |
Destination |
Numbers Removed |
|
€118,690.86 |
Nigeria |
31 |
|
0* |
Nigeria |
25 |
|
€76,167.25 |
Nigeria |
9 |
|
€104,216.14 |
Nigeria |
30 |
|
€8,503.42 |
Nigeria |
12 |
|
€224,750.00 |
Nigeria |
44 |
|
€273,948.12 |
Nigeria |
41 |
|
€35,205.22 |
Georgia |
1 |
|
€1,654.60 |
Georgia |
5 |
|
Cost |
Destination |
Numbers Removed |
|
€7,492.89 |
Nigeria |
22 |
|
0* |
Nigeria |
21 |
|
€11,140.67 |
Nigeria |
11 |
|
€234,674.00 |
Nigeria |
21 |
|
0* |
Nigeria |
28 |
|
0* |
Nigeria |
21 |
|
€277,634.30 |
Nigeria |
37 |
|
€85,963.54 |
Georgia |
38 |
|
€54,746.50 |
Italy |
2 |
|
€25,086.88 |
DR Congo |
1 |
|
Costs |
Destination |
Numbers Removed |
|
0* |
Nigeria |
39 |
|
€108,990.38 |
Nigeria |
19 |
|
€35,505.05 |
Nigeria |
17 |
|
€9,364.13 |
Georgia |
10 |
|
€14,408.85 |
Pakistan |
13 |
|
€3,540.47 |
DR Congo |
3 |
|
€27,632.67 |
DR Congo / Nigeria |
10 |
|
Costs |
Destination |
Numbers Removed |
|
€1,642.78 |
Nigeria |
1 |
|
€59,183.94 |
Nigeria |
21 |
|
€54,036.30 |
Nigeria |
12 |
|
€44,595.00 |
Georgia |
7 |
|
€25,886.00 |
Ghana |
8 |
*(flights marked with an asterisk were fully funded by FRONTEX and therefore resulted in no cost to the State).
