There has been a threefold increase in deportation orders issued so far this year compared with the same period last year as part of a deliberate hardening of policy towards immigration by the Government.
It comes amid a dramatic decline in the number of people seeking asylum in the State in the first three months of the year.
A total of 1,008 deportation orders were issued in the first three months of the year compared with 305 in the same period in 2024. Until the end of March, 446 people departed the State, 59 of whom were enforced deportations.
A charter flight in February deported 32 Georgian nationals from Dublin to Tbilisi at a cost of more than €100,000, the first of a number of such flights expected to be used this year for “in extremis” cases.
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The number of people seeking international protection in the State has also fallen 40 per cent in the first three months of the year. Total applications until the end of March were 3,021 compared with 5,151 for the first three months of 2024.
The figure for March, 837, was less than half the 1,821 in March last year. It also represented the lowest monthly number of applications since April 2023.
As part of what the Government describes as a tightening of asylum policy, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan told The Irish Times he wants immigration laws that are “robust, fair, efficient and enforced”.
[ Asylum system overhaul: What is changing beyond all the talk of reform?Opens in new window ]
Mr O’Callaghan is drafting a new Bill which he says will be the biggest reform of the asylum system in the history of the State. It will repeal the International Protection Act 2015 and also provide for the full implementation of the European Union Migration and Asylum Pact.
He will also seek to accelerate processing times for asylum seekers from the 17 countries already subject to fast-track applications where the first decision is taken within three months.
Mr O’Callaghan wants that first-instance decision, and the subsequent appeal, to be completed within three months, instead of the 15 months at present.
The number of refusals at first instance has also increased this year. More than 80 per cent of international protection applications have been refused this year, compared with 72 per cent last year and only 28 per cent in 2022.
Minister of State for Migration Colm Brophy has also highlighted how gardaí have increased the frequency of doorstep operations at newly arrived aircraft.
He said: “In the month of January alone, we held 458 doorstep operations.
“This means gardaí at the foot of planes ensuring those who have no entitlement to be here are not allowed remain here.
“This is a strong signal that we are taking a firmer approach to migration,” said Mr Brophy.
Mr O’Callaghan signed an order on Thursday that will allow the State to strip naturalised Irish citizenship from people who obtained it fraudulently or who pose a serious threat to the State.
“Revocation of Irish citizenship is only undertaken in the most serious of circumstances,” he said.
Sinn Féin spokesman on justice Matt Carthy said the Minister had said a lot but has not done much so far.
“The key problem is the failure to get on top of the international protection system, particularly in terms of the length of time it takes to process applications,” he said.
“The average processing time for those taking an appeal in the accelerated process is 15 months. For people from other countries, the actual application takes two years and eight months in total,” he said. That’s not a signal the Government is getting on top of the issues.”
