It was reported across the press on Monday that a total of 759 people have been deported out of Ireland to date this year through various means, including 62 removed by charter aircraft.
Breaking News.ie (owned by the Irish Times) and The Sunday World reported the figure which came from a response to a Parliamentary Question to Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan like it was some great feat achieved by a no-nonsense Government Minister.
To take the headline at face value would mean that 759 people have left the State, having been issued deportation orders. That’s exactly what most ordinary people, 70 per cent or so of whom (per the polling) are unhappy with the Government’s out of control immigration policy, would likely be inclined to believe. It sounds great for the Government and makes the voters think that their concerns are finally being taken seriously.
Speaking in the Dáil, O’Callaghan, who must be credited in any case with doing a better job than his predecessor Helen McEntee, answered with all the usual jargon: “It is a central priority for me that Ireland’s immigration system is robust and rules based. The enforcement aspects of our laws, including deportation orders, are an essential requirement for the system to work effectively and to ensure that there is confidence in the application of our legislation in this area.
He continued: “In the context of international protection, where an applicant has been refused and has exhausted all appeal avenues, they have the option of voluntary return, which if not accepted will in the normal course lead to the making of a deportation order. The only barrier to that course of action is the provisions of section 50 of the International Protection Act 2015 on the prohibition of refoulement.”
So, were the 759 people who have been issued with deportations in the first five months of 2026 actually been sent packing? The simple answer, from a breakdown of figures in the PQ to Erin McGreehan TD, is no.
Included at the end of the PQ is a table which confirms that just 107 people were subject to enforced deportations. That breakdown also shows that 62 people were removed by charter, a majority of whom on the grounds of criminality.
What about the rest? Buried down the news pieces we find that the vast majority of deportations were voluntary returns. 511 came under this category – meaning people with no right to be in the State were trusted to leave of their own accord, or their whereabouts are unknown. Does that sound to you like a robust immigration system? Of course it’s not, because it means that less than a quarter of those issued with deportation orders have actually been deported.
As the department itself clarifies: “It is the case that a significant number of individuals who were subject to deportation orders have left the State without notifying the relevant authorities; however, as there are no routine exit checks at Irish borders, it is not possible to definitely provide the number of people who have or have not complied with an order. I am, however, informed that the GNIB has reviewed a large sample of cases of people subject to deportation orders; their inquiries suggest a very significant number of these individuals have left the State.”
How does the State know that a significant number of those meant to be deported actually left? It says in its own response that it has absolutely no way of knowing.
In fact, last week we learned from a question put by Peadar Toibin that in 2025, 4,700 deportation orders were issued, but the whereabouts of over 55 per cent of these individuals, 2,589 people, cannot be confirmed. Does this sound like a robust system to you?
Such is the difficulty in getting failed asylum seekers and their families to leave the country voluntarily that in the UK, for instance, just two months ago, the Government resorted to the drastic measure of trialling a scheme which pays people up to £40,000 to leave the country voluntarily. The situation has gotten so out of hand that this is considered a more affordable initiative than continuing to house individuals and families in tax-payer funded accommodation. The Home Secretary said this was “necessary” to enforce the rules, as people were simply not leaving.
The State and the left leaning media are very good at manipulating language through headlines which suggest a steep rise in voluntary returns – but we’ve known for a long time that a large majority of failed asylum applicants who exhaust their appeals remain unaccounted for. That is simply not good enough. And it’s way past time that serious steps are taken in relation to the root of the problem – that too many people are being let into the country on false pretences.