![\"Minister](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/justice-minister-says-he-intends-to-continue-his-approach-to-deportations.jpg\")
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O\u2019Callaghan said he was conscious of the concerns of victims (Bairbre Homes\/PA)<\/p>\nThe Minister for Justice has said he intends to continue his approach to non-Irish nationals who commit serious criminal offences in the state, the day after 34 men were deported to Poland and Lithuania.<\/p>\n
Jim O\u2019Callaghan was at Dublin Airport on Monday to launch upgraded eGate facilities, part of the border management system operated by the Department of Justice.<\/p>\n
The 25 new and upgraded gates will offer a \u201csignificant development\u201d in making sure there is a \u201csafe and secure\u201d border at Ireland\u2019s largest airport, he said.<\/p>\n
O\u2019Callaghan was speaking to reporters a day after 34 Polish and Lithuanian men were deported on a flight from the airport.<\/p>\n
Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration Jim O\u2019Callaghan said he was conscious of the concerns of victims (Bairbre Homes\/PA)<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were all people who had been convicted of serious criminal offences,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
EU citizens are permitted to live and work in Ireland under the free movement directive, but he said that comes \u201csubject to very serious conditions\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf people have committed serious criminal offences, they lose to privileges that come under the free movement directive.\u201d<\/p>\n
However, O\u2019Callaghan said he also needs to be \u201cconscious of the concerns of victims\u201d.<\/p>\n
He said he looks for the consent of victims of serious sexual offenses before the perpetrator is removed and said \u201cno-one is removed from prison in the jurisdiction until they are serving the final year in custody\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m taking a very serious approach in response to people who have come to Ireland and have committed serious criminal offences, and that\u2019s something I intend to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n
Discussing the new gates O\u2019Callaghan said around 6.3 million people used the eGates at Dublin last year and that is expected to increase this year.<\/p>\n
He said they are designed to increase efficiency as they will also be compatible with identity cards.<\/p>\n
They include improved facial recognition technology to compare the person using the system with the photo on their ID.<\/p>\n
Minister of State Colm Brophy, who also attended the launch, said as well as replacing the older generation of machines additional gates will be added they will be a \u201creal game-changer\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Minister for Justice has said he intends to continue his approach to non-Irish nationals who commit serious…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":467099,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[61,60,43],"class_list":["post-467098","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467098","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=467098"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/467098\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/467099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=467098"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=467098"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=467098"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}