International Protection Bill 2026: Committee Stage
Dail Éireann — 2026-02-18
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

That is not an issue in terms of what is in the legislation. The number of deportation orders that were signed last year was in the region of over 4,000. Regarding people leaving the country who have deportation orders, I believe and the Department believes that if somebody is served with a deportation order in Ireland, it is very difficult to remain. They do not get any social protection payments. They cannot work within the orthodox economy. The belief in the Department is that the very significant number of people who receive deportation orders leave the country. Similarly, however, the Deputy will be aware that last year there were in the region of 2,000 enforced repatriations of people with deportation orders and people who went for voluntary return schemes.
There are challenges with having a open border in Ireland. Deputy Tóbín mentioned earlier that we should have an exit system in Ireland. We cannot do that because we want to have an open border. If people travel from the Republic up to Northern Ireland, thereby leaving the State, there is no mechanism by which we can get a record of that. I suspect Sinn Féin does not want a mechanism in place that requires the State to stop people on the Border to identify their passing and coming.
My assurance to Deputies is that when it comes to deportation orders that have been made, the belief is that the vast majority of them result in people leaving the jurisdiction.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-02-18/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:39+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-02-18