Almost 990 gardaí accompanied 277 returnees on 10 deportation flights since last February
Gordon Deegan
A total of 988 Garda escorts have accompanied 377 returnees on 10 deportation flights out of Ireland since February of last year.
New figures show that the cost of deporting the 377 returnees across 10 separate deportation operations to the likes of South Africa, Georgia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Romania, Poland and Lithuania totalled €3.9 million.
The spend of €3.9 million on the 10 separate deportations via chartered plane equates to an average spend of €10,344 per returnee.
In a letter to the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) in Leinster House, Secretary General at the Dept of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Doncha O’Sullivan outlined the reasons behind the high number of Garda escorts.
He says: “The rationale for the number of Garda escorts on the flight is linked to the risk posed by the passengers."
He adds: “A deportation is a forced return and persons who are being returned will often not cooperate with the process – hence the need for a higher number of escorts.
He says: “For example, a higher number of returnees with criminal backgrounds will warrant a higher number of Garda escorts, as will a higher number of adult returnees.
O’Sullivan pointed out that “The primary responsibility of the Garda escorts is to ensure that the return is conducted in a safe, calm, courteous and professional manner, especially when there are children and family groups on flights."
The highest number of Garda escorts to date was on a return flight to South Africa where 133 gardaí accompanied 63 returnees in February while 119 Garda escorts accompanied 34 returnees to Poland and Lithuania.
The main component of the €3.9 million cost was the €3.55 million plane cost, and the highest spend of any flight was €904,050 spent on a return flight to South Africa on June 19th this year.
As part of the €3.9 million spend, the Department of Justice also incurred €162,916 in medical team costs, commercial return costs of €106,347 and flight manager costs of €60,165.
The Department also incurred additional costs of €21,740, which included costs of €8,653 from an emergency landing in Nigeria in April of last year and €13,087 from de-icing a Poland and Lithuania flight on January 25th 2026.
O’Sullivan said that in addition to the costs totalling €3.9 million, each group of returnees was accompanied by a Human Rights Observer (HRO) and the total cost for this service for nine of the operations was €36,307 as the figures for the HRO for the most recent flight are not yet available.
On the Garda escort cost duties, O’Sullivan said that they are generally covered within the annual allocated Garda spend.
He said: “However, the Department secured funding under the EU Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and have allocated a grant to the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) to cover the costs of effecting deportations, including escort costs for non-EU Deportations."
He said that this grant agreement runs from January 1st 2025 to December 31st 2027, and so far under the agreement, two payments have been paid to the GNIB, totalling €1.84 million.
He said: “GNIB costs in respect of additional pay costs, hotel, travel and subsistence are covered under this grant – as are interpreter costs.
"Under the terms of AMIF, 75pc of relevant costs can be reclaimed and it is anticipated that the return to the exchequer will be in the region of €3.45 million.”
O’Sullivan said that in respect of costs borne by the Department for both Charter and Commercial deportation costs, up to 75 per cent can also be reclaimed from the AMIF and the Department plans to seek reimbursement of 75 per cent of charter plane costs for non-EU Deportations.
He said: “Work is already underway to seek a reimbursement of commercial flight costs under the fund.”
