Failed asylum applicants to be deported on dedicated flights chartered by State

The Government is to start running regular charter flights dedicated to deporting people who have failed in their asylum applications.

The first flights, which would use private aircraft hired by the Department of Justice, are expected to happen later this year.

The move comes as the Government attempts to present a tougher image on immigration in advance of local and European elections in June. Immigration tops the list of issues getting the attention of voters in the past month, according to public sentiment tracking by Ipsos B&A.

Other planned measures included adding Algeria and Botswana to the official list of “safe countries” which will allow faster processing of immigration claims. International protection (IP) applicants coming from those countries are to have their applications decided on within a maximum of 90 days.

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On Tuesday, Minister for Justice Helen McEntee outlined fresh plans to clamp down on those who already have refugee status in another European state. They are to be entered into an inadmissibility procedure, which will also be subject to fast processing. The measures are to come into effect from Wednesday.

Together these measures would lead to the potential removal of up to 5,000 people from the IP system here, Ms McEntee said.

Adding Botswana and Algeria to the “safe countries” list brings to 10 the number of countries in that category.

There were 1,462 IP applicants from Algeria last year and 343 from Botswana.

“We have seen an increase in people coming from those countries and the vast majority are coming for economic reasons.

“It’s important to stress that this does not mean people coming from any of the 10 safe countries cannot seek international protection. They can apply, but they will be processed in a much quicker way.”

Ms McEntee said the Government had considered adding Nigeria and Pakistan to the list of safe countries but concluded they did not meet all the criteria.

Ms McEntee confirmed the State would charter planes to deport people whose applications have been turned down on appeal to particular countries.

The Government has not run its own chartered deportation flights since at least 2018. It has instead relied on regularly scheduled commercial flights to accommodate those being deported. On rare occasions, it has also deported people on chartered flights run by other EU member states.

According to procurement documents issued on Tuesday, the State intends to “normalise” its approach to deportations following a moratorium during the Covid-19 pandemic.

It says it expects to deport “a sufficient number of individuals from specific countries of origin, to an extent that the use of charter flight operations would become economically viable”.

The Coalition is now conducting a market “sounding” exercise to seek information from airline companies who can provide such a service.

Some of these charter flights would make multiple stops in the EU to pick up other unsuccessful asylum applicants, as part of a joint arrangement with other countries, before travelling on to a final destination.

According to the procurement documents, Ireland has “in the past, participated in joint return operations” with other member states, where it avails of seats on a charter service funded by another country.

“These services are offered to the State on a reciprocal basis and there is an obligation on Ireland to provide a similar service to other Member States at appropriate junctures,” one document states.

Statistics relating to failed asylum applicants suggest the most likely destinations for chartered flights would be Algeria, Georgia and Nigeria.

Last year, about 750 deportation orders were signed but only about 80 were enforced. The Government says a large proportion of the remaining failed asylum applicants left the country of their own accord without informing authorities.

Ireland last took part in a dedicated deportation flight in 2019 when it obtained seats on a flight chartered by Belgium and Iceland to return Georgian and Albanian nationals. In 2019, it obtained seats on a UK charter flight deporting failed asylum applicants to Nigeria.

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