Justice Minister confirms spend of €2.88m deporting 377 via charter since February 2025

Gordon Deegan

The State spend on deporting people out of the country via charter jet now tops €2.88 million since February of last year.

New figures provided by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan show that €2.88m has been spent on 10 flights since February 2025.

The most recent charter flight departed from Dublin airport to South Africa on Thursday at a cost of €735,000 where deportation orders were carried out against 42 South African nationals - 15 children, 18 women and nine men - and all children were part of family units.

Since February of last year a total of 377 people have been deported via charter flight which works out at an average cost of €7,639 per deportee.

Garda overtime costs

The costs do not include any attendant Garda overtime costs arising from each operation.

The €735,000 cost for the charter flight last Thursday is the costliest charter flight to date.

Prior to that, O’Callaghan confirmed in a recent Dáil written reply to Fianna Fáil TD Séamus McGrath that the next most costly charter was also to South Africa which cost €585,075 when 63 people were deported.

The third costliest flight took place last September when 24 people were deported to Pakistan at a cost of €473,000.

The first such deportation flight took place in February 2025 when 32 were deported to Georgia at a cost of €102,476 and two more deportation flights to Georgia took place in May 2025 at a cost of €103,751 and one in November at a cost of €187,625.

Other countries where people have been deported via charter flight are Nigeria - €324,714, Romania - €69,475 and Poland/Lithuania on two occasions at a cost of €187,625 last November and at a cost of €184,465 last month.

In his reply to McGrath, O’Callaghan stated that charter flight services are provided by Air Partner Ltd under a contract entered into in November 2024 and the contract was signed following a competitive and open procurement process.

O’Callaghan said that the potential value of the contract with Air Partner Ltd is €5m over the lifespan of the contract.

He said: “The term of the contract is 3 years with a possibility to extend it twice by one year, a potential lifespan of 5 years in total.”

He said that the total expenditure under the contract with Air Partner will be based on the number of charter flights provided, the frequency of which will be determined by the operational needs of the State.

The most recent accounts for the Gatwick based Air Partner Ltd show that it recorded pre-tax profits of £8.5m in 2024 as revenues increased by 4 per cent to £72.89m.

O’Callaghan stated that “charter flights provide an alternative to commercial flights and can be more appropriate in circumstances when a group of individuals are being removed to the same destination”.

He said: “This has increased the options available to An Garda Síochána to effect removals and deportations."

On the costs, O’Callaghan said that “a number of factors impact the costs associated with deportation operations”.

Increased deportation orders

He said: “In particular, the costs for any particular deportation reflect the numbers travelling in each instance, the destination country, and if direct flights are not available the escorts and deportee transit through a hub airport.”

O’Callaghan said that the number of deportation orders signed in 2025 at 4,700 was an increase of 96 per cent on 2024.

O’Callaghan said to June 5th this year, 2,108 deportation orders have been signed.

He said: “Deportations are costly and complex to enforce. It is the preferred option to return people voluntarily and my Department has a voluntary return programme to assist people to return prior to the issuance of a deportation order."

O’Callaghan said “it is a central priority for me that Ireland’s immigration system is robust and rules based. The enforcement aspects of our laws, including deportation orders, are an essential requirement for the system to work effectively and to ensure that there is confidence in the application of our legislation in this area”.