Efforts to deport convicted criminals from the Republic have been ramped up in recent months, with a record number of those in Irish prisons now also having exclusion orders imposed.
The orders mean criminals can be deported to their European Union country of origin and are then banned from returning to the Republic for up to 10 years.
The number of EU citizens selected for removal and long-term exclusion from the Republic in 2025 looks set to be about six times higher than last year, The Irish Times has learned.
This is the latest strand in the Government’s efforts to take a tougher approach to failed international protection applicants and also to EU citizens who are considered to have effectively abused their automatic right to live and work in Ireland by committing crimes here.
RM Block
“The removal from the State of convicted criminals and those who are a danger to public safety is a priority for the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O’Callaghan,” the Department of Justice said in reply to queries.
“The removal of such individuals is actively managed by the department in close consultation with An Garda Síochána and the Irish Prison Service. This work involves regular and ongoing reviews of cases to ensure they progressed swiftly where possible.”
EU exclusion orders can be imposed on any citizen of a member state and can also apply to those from Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The orders can be imposed on individuals, and their family members, who “represent a danger to public policy or public security”. Anyone whose “personal conduct represents a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society” can be deported and also banned from re-entering the Republic for up to 10 years.
Although an EU-wide system of exclusion orders – under the European Communities Free Movement of Persons Regulations 2015 – has long been available to the Irish authorities, their use in the Republic has accelerated significantly this year.
In the 9½ months to mid October, some 99 exclusion orders were imposed on EU citizens who had been convicted of crimes and jailed in the Republic. By the end of this year, that is expected to reach at least 120. That compares with 24 exclusion orders imposed on EU citizens last year and 19 in 2023.
Of the people covered by those 99 exclusion orders imposed to mid-October, some 45 have already been removed, including 22 on commercial flights and 23 on a charter flight, to Romania, the week before last.
The news comes after it emerged efforts to deport many failed international protection applicants have been undermined by legal challenges in the Republic. Some countries are also refusing to engage with Irish authorities, thus hindering the deportation process. In other cases the security environment in some countries has resulted in airports being closed for periods there, meaning deportations to those nations have proven impossible for long spells.
The issue came into focus when it emerged a foreign man charged with the sexual assault of a 10-year-old girl last week at Citywest, Dublin, should have been deported. Having come to Ireland in 2019, his application for international protection met a final rejection last year. A deportation order was served on him in May of this year, but he remained living in the Republic.
