{"id":323407,"date":"2026-03-01T12:36:09","date_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:36:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/323407\/"},"modified":"2026-03-01T12:36:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-01T12:36:09","slug":"63-people-including-9-children-deported-from-ireland-on-flight-to-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/323407\/","title":{"rendered":"63 people, including 9 children, deported from Ireland on flight to South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"

The flight departed Dublin Airport at 5:05pm and landed in Johannesburg this morning at 4am at a cost of \u20ac585,075\n<\/p>\n

The department said 54 adults were on board, and that each child on the flight belonged to family units.<\/p>\n

The flight departed Dublin Airport at 5:05pm and landed in Johannesburg this morning at 4am Irish time at a cost of \u20ac585,075.<\/p>\n

Accompanying the deportees were members of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na, medical staff, an interpreter and a human rights observer.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\"Minister<\/p>\n

Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan. Photo: PA<\/p>\n

News in 90 seconds – Sunday, March 1 <\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Commenting on the latest round of deportations, Minister for Justice Jim O\u2019Callaghan said they are needed to ensure the legitimacy of Ireland\u2019s immigration system.<\/p>\n

\u201cCharter 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,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

“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 S\u00edoch\u00e1na and officials from my department for their continued hard work in conducting these complex operations.”<\/p>\n

Minister of State at the Department of Justice, Colm Brophy, said: \u201cI 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.<\/p>\n

“They are welcome and contribute immensely to our economy and society. I would also like to extend my thanks to members of An Garda S\u00edoch\u00e1na and Department officials.”<\/p>\n

Deportation orders increased by 96pc last year compared to 2024, with 4,700 deportation orders executed.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, both enforced and voluntary deportations from the State increased by 88pc last year compared to the year before with 2,111 having their departure confirmed through either of those pathways.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The flight departed Dublin Airport at 5:05pm and landed in Johannesburg this morning at 4am at a cost…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":323408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9691,61,60,18573,1286,43],"class_list":["post-323407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-department-of-justice","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-jim-ocallaghan","tag-keith-kelly","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=323407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/323407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/323408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=323407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=323407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=323407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}