Gardaí outnumber deportees three to one on half-empty flight to Pakistan

Ken Foxe

There were more than three times as many gardaí as deportees on a half-full flight to Pakistan, even though it included just one person with a serious criminal conviction.

Internal notes from the Department of Justice show that the deportation operation in September cost €474,000 and involved only 24 failed asylum seekers.

Three of the persons on board had “minor offences” on their record but were never sent to jail, while one had a serious criminal conviction from the UK.

The notes show that 79 members of An Garda Síochana were on board, an average of 3.3 per deportee, as well as a doctor, a paramedic, a translator, and a human rights monitor.

The average bill for each deportee was around €20,000, as the department said in a statement that such operations were “costly and complex to enforce.”

They said charter flights increased the options and capacity available to gardaí and that staffing arrangements were a policing matter.

A statement said: “[The Garda National Immigration Bureau] conducts a risk assessment for the safety of those travelling. This informs the number of personnel involved.”

The department said the cost of what they called ‘Operation Toboggan’ had been €473,000 with a further €1,120 spent on catering costs.

They were not able to provide details of staffing or overtime costs incurred by An Garda in sending 79 officers on the flight to Islamabad.

An internal note said the Airbus A330 used had 256 seats available but travelled less than half full on the seven-and-a-half-hour flight to Pakistan.

The note said there were no family groups involved and that the 24 deportees ranged from 23 to 66 years in age.

Their average time in the State was nine years and three months with 10 living in IPAS centres and 14 in private accommodation.

A note for Minister Jim O’Callaghan added: “References to the [charter] contract costing the State €5 million relate to the potential value of the contract over the lifespan of the contract.

“The term of the contract is three years with a possibility to extend it twice by one year, a potential lifespan of five years in total.”

A separate internal briefing note on ‘Operation Void’ to remove 23 Romanian citizens in October said it had cost just under €70,000.

It said that all had served custodial prison sentences in the State and were being removed under European directives on free movement.

The note said: “A removal and exclusion order may be issued to an EU national when the person represents a danger for public policy or public security.”

19 of the 23 deportees were removed from the State while in the middle of a prison sentence and the four others “were located and detained” by gardaí.

The minister was told 80 gardaí would be on board along with a human rights monitor, a translator, and a medical team.

The note added that those being removed had accumulated 565 criminal charges between them while living in Ireland.

A Department of Justice spokesman said: “It is a priority for Minister Jim O’Callaghan that our immigration system is rules-based and efficient. Enforcement of our immigration laws is a central element of a rules-based system.

“The removal of persons who have been refused permission to remain is an essential requirement for the immigration system to work effectively and to ensure that the public has confidence in the application of our laws in this area.”