Deportations of failed asylum seekers are to increase, with specially chartered flights due to begin this year, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan has said.
Speaking at one of his first media engagements, the new Minister signalled a tougher stance on immigration and deportations.
“I think we are going to see more deportation orders issued this year. No country can adopt a relaxed or casual attitude to its borders and migration. It’s a security issue as well as being a rights issue,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
“That’s an area where I think I’m going to focus on and I think Niall [Collins, Minister of State at the Department of Justice] is going to help. And indeed Minister [of State for Migration Colm] Brophy as well.”
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Mr O’Callaghan was speaking in Dublin at the first of six ceremonies which will see 5,000 people awarded Irish citizenship.
He said people who have overstayed their visas or who have failed in their application for international protection should leave the country and be subject to a deportation order.
Efforts are needed to both increase accommodation of asylum seekers and reduce the number of people applying for international protection, he said. “The numbers keep growing. It’s not tenable for us to continually get more accommodation. We need a more effective system that is more manageable,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
There are 32,000 people in international protection accommodation and currently no room for single males applying for asylum, he said.
Mr O’Callaghan said he is due to visit the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), which is responsible for enforcing deportations, and that he will be asking them if they have enough resources.
“Unless they’re properly resourced we won’t be able to have an effective system in place,” he said.
Dedicated charter flights for the deportation of failed asylum seekers to their native countries, a measure announced by Mr O’Callaghan’s predecessor Helen McEntee, will begin this year, he said, though he declined to specify a date.
Asked about US president Donald Trump’s proposal to clear Palestinians from their homes and turn Gaza into a “Riviera of the Middle East”, the Minister said Ireland is not prepared “in any way” to facilitate a breach of international law.
Israeli minister for defence Israel Katz claimed “countries like Spain, Ireland, Norway, and others, which have levelled accusations and false claims against Israel over its actions in Gaza, are legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories”.
“Some of the proposals that have been advanced recently would constitute a breach of international law, namely forcibly removing people from their homeland,” Mr O’Callaghan said.
“Ireland won’t be facilitating or participating in any such breach of international law.”
The new Minister also said there is a need to increase Garda recruitment and that he would like to see alternatives to the Garda training college as a route into the force.
Currently, prospective gardaí have to undergo nine months training at the Garda college in Templemore, Co Tipperary.
Mr O’Callaghan said this can be disruptive for people living in other parts of the country. He said he would like to see regional educational institutions play a role in the recruitment and training of new gardaí.
