The flight departed Dublin Airport at 5:05pm and landed in Johannesburg this morning at 4am at a cost of €585,075
Titilayo Oluwakemi Oyekanmi and her sons Samuel (18), Joseph (14) and Genesis (5) were removed from the country on Saturday after living in Dublin since 2023.
Ms Oyekanmi, who is of Nigerian heritage, fled South Africa with her sons after heightened xenophobia against people of her ethnicity resulted in her being kidnapped and told to leave the country.
However, the family received a deportation order last year after their asylum application was rejected in Ireland, with the Department of Justice deeming South Africa a “safe country of origin”.
The family had been living in an IPAS centre in Sandyford until they were transferred last month to one-bedroom accommodation in Castleknock, north Dublin.
The Department of Justice confirmed today that a total of 63 people, including nine children, were deported to South Africa on a charter flight yesterday evening at 5:05pm from Dublin Airport.
Accompanying them were members of An Garda Síochána, medical staff, an interpreter and a human rights observer.
This latest deportation order is the second such operation of the year and the eighth since the recommencement of charter flights to effect removals and deportation orders in 2025.
Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan described the flights as “routine and essential” elements of Ireland’s immigration enforcement.
However, a source close to Ms Oyekanmi and her sons reject this notion, likening the decision to the “zero tolerance” approach of the United States in the area of immigration.
“What sort of system is going on here where people are being pulled out halfway through their life with no compassion and no empathy,” the source told the Irish Independent.
“It strikes us that this is a minister who’s kind of lost the run of himself a little bit,” he added.
He said that Ms Oyekanmi wrote into a local group chat on Saturday morning “in desperation” after finding out at short notice that she was being ordered to leave with her sons, an event he described as “strikingly similar” to ICE officials in the US.
“She was in tears and slightly hysterical. We thought she had a week to consider and get herself organised, whereas she was told this [On Friday] evening in Dundrum by two GNIB [Garda National Immigration Burea] officers who asked to meet her and, she gets lifted the following morning.”
Ms Oyekanmi previously told the Irish Independent: “Samuel, my first son, is preparing for his Leaving Cert. Taking him out in this stage of his life is going to affect his life, and his future, which makes me cry.
“He has been studying and working hard towards it, and I would be so glad if they can allow him to stay, focus, do his Leaving Cert and pass very well.”
She said: “I want my children to be happy, because we had to run away from threats to our lives in South Africa.
“We escaped kidnapping. That same boy that escaped that kidnapping, now they want to send him back to that same country.”
Under his stewardship as Justice Minister, Mr O’Callaghan oversaw a 97pc increase in deportation orders last year compared to 2024, jumping from 1,122 to 2,111 people exiting either by enforced deportation or voluntary returns.
In isolation, voluntary returns went from 934 in 2024 to 1,616 in 2025, a 73pc jump.
“I think that slightly extreme side of society would like to see them all loaded onto a bus or loaded onto a plane, fill it to the rafters, get them gone,” the source added.
“In terms of {Mr O’Callaghan’s] constituency, does that reflect how middle-class, Dublin want to be represented? That’s not what I’m voting for.”
This latest deportation order is the second such operation of the year and the eighth since the recommencement of charter flights to effect removals and deportation orders in 2025.
Charter flights provide an alternative to commercial flights in that they are more appropriate for transporting a group of individuals to the same destination, the department said.
Titilayo Oluwakemi Oyekanmi and her three sons, Samuel, Joseph and Genesis
News in 90 seconds – Sunday, March 1
Six charter flight operations in 2025 removed 182 people who were subject to deportation orders from the State, and 23 EU nationals were removed on Removal Orders.
Commenting on the latest round of deportations, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said they are needed to ensure the legitimacy of Ireland’s immigration system.
“Charter flights are now a routine and essential part of immigration enforcement for the state. Without effective enforcement measures, our immigration laws would be undermined, and I want to ensure that there is public confidence in the application of our laws in this area,” he said.
“If a person does not have a legal permission to be in the State, or has been involved in criminality, they will be removed. I would like to thank the members of An Garda Síochána and officials from my department for their continued hard work in conducting these complex operations.”
Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Colm Brophy, said: “I would like to acknowledge that the majority of South African nationals resident in Ireland are doing so legally, having entered the State though the various legal pathways available.
“They are welcome and contribute immensely to our economy and society. I would also like to extend my thanks to members of An Garda Síochána and Department officials.”