Families served with deportation orders in recent months, including women and children, are at “serious risk of destitution due to a sudden loss of supports”, the Irish Refugee Council (IRC) has warned.
The organisation said it was “deeply concerned” about the wellbeing of families who had their daily expenses allowance and medical card suddenly withdrawn following the issuance of a deportation order.
Those with a right to work also have to cease employment immediately, it said.
The warning follows concerns raised by health professionals working with families awaiting deportation from the State who no longer have access to healthcare or financial support.
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“Through our own services, and reports from partner organisations, people in this situation are in very difficult circumstances and with little or no means to support themselves,” the IRC’s chief executive, Nick Henderson, said .
“It is essential to remember that we are talking about human beings – including children – not just numbers or objects to be removed as quickly as possible.”
Other European countries continue to offer supports to people in this situation “to ensure they do not become destitute”, he said.
A Department of Justice official confirmed a person with a deportation order was no longer entitled to reception conditions.
So far this year, 1,816 deportation orders have been signed, while 796 people have left the country, government figures show.
Of these 796 people, 81 per cent availed of a voluntary return programme without receiving a deportation order, while 15 per cent were “enforced deportations” requiring an escort, the Department of Justice said.
The number of deportation orders increased by 180 per cent between 2023 and last year, from 857 to 2,403.
When a person does not comply with a deportation order, they can be arrested and detained in a designated prison.
It is understood arrested adult deportees are now being held in the Citywest Transit Hub before being moved to prisons in advance of departure from the State.
The hub is part of the Citywest Hotel complex, which the Government is set to purchase and expand for more asylum seeker housing.
It was previously used as an accommodation hub for Ukrainian refugees and more recently accommodated newly arrived international protection applicants, but is now temporarily housing those scheduled for deportation, a source connected to Citywest said.
Under the International Protection Act 2015, deportees with signed detention warrants can be detained at a Garda station or designated prison. Under-18s cannot be detained.
Asked how many people had been detained in the Citywest Transit Centre in recent months, a department justice official said: “This is an operational matter”.
The Government removal of 71 people on chartered flights in February and May to Tbilisi in Georgia, including seven women and six children, was “pure theatre” aimed at “grabbing a headline”, immigration lawyer Cathal Malone said.
Deporting people on government-chartered flights, rather than commercial flights, could also result in a court ordering the planes to turn around, he warned.
“When you have people on board a state aeroplane, an injunction can be ordered by the Irish courts,” Mr Malone said.
“The Minister for Justice would be in contempt of court if he doesn’t do everything in his power to get that plane to turn around.
“When you march someone on to a commercial flight, once that takes off, there’s very little that can be done.”
In all 48 people, including 12 Georgians and eight Brazilians, have been deported from the State on commercial airlines so far this year.
The inclusion of children on the government-chartered deportation flights to Georgia earlier this year also marked a change in policy by the Department of Justice, which previously adhered to an “unwritten policy” of not deporting families.
The department confirmed all children removed from the State on these flights were part of family groups.
A briefing note prepared for former minister for justice Helen McEntee dated April last year and released under Freedom of Information request revealed Government officials were concerned “the department’s unwritten policy of not deporting families in recent times” had become a “pull factor” in attracting more families to Ireland.
“Anecdotally, many [families] are currently sceptical, arising from recent historical Irish deportation operational practice, that they will ever be forcibly removed,” the note said. “This needs to be addressed.”
The briefing note recommended a “change in tack” and the launch of a pilot scheme providing “enhanced” supports and incentives for families to return home voluntarily after being served with a deportation order.
