An IMGlobalWealth.news Report
Ireland has spent almost €3.9 million on ten charter deportation operations that removed 377 people, as Dublin steps up enforcement of its immigration laws.
The operations, conducted between February 2025 and June 2026, returned people to South Africa, Nigeria, Pakistan, Georgia, Romania, Poland and Lithuania. They involved 988 Garda escorts, according to figures supplied by Ireland’s Department of Justice, Home Affairs and Migration to parliament’s Public Accounts Committee.
“Some 4,700 deportation orders were signed in 2025, up 96% from 2,403 in 2024”
The bill works out at roughly €10,300 for each person removed, although the calculation does not include the cost of Garda escort duties. Aircraft accounted for about €3.55 million of the expenditure, with further costs covering medical teams, commercial travel and flight management.
South Africa proved particularly expensive. A flight in June 2026 carrying 42 South African nationals cost €735,000 for the aircraft alone. The group included nine men, 18 women and 15 children, all of whom were travelling as part of family units. An earlier flight to South Africa removed 63 people.
Other charter operations included 35 Nigerians in June 2025 and 24 people returned to Pakistan in September. Ireland has also used charter flights to remove EU citizens on public-security grounds. In January 2026, 17 Polish and 16 Lithuanian nationals, all of whom had received custodial sentences, were removed under the EU’s Free Movement Directive.
The flights form part of a broader tightening of Irish immigration enforcement. Some 4,700 deportation orders were signed in 2025, up 96% from 2,403 in 2024. The government nevertheless says voluntary return remains its preferred route for people without permission to remain. In 2025, 1,616 people left through the voluntary-return programme.
Dublin argues that removals are necessary if a rules-based immigration system is to retain public confidence. The rising cost of enforcing those rules, however, illustrates how expensive the final stage of immigration control can become once voluntary departure has failed.
