International Protection Bill 2026: From the Seanad
Dail Éireann — 2026-04-15
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Jim O'Callaghan (FF), Dublin Bay South

If we do not have a system that allows us to detain people who are to be deported, we can never have deportation flights. I just have to be realistic about it. We could never have these flights because people are obviously not going to turn up and ask "What time is the flight leaving at?" The realistic situation is that in order to ensure that people can be subject to enforced deportations, you have to detain them in advance. It is not the preferred way of doing it. The numbers in terms of voluntary returns are increasing quite significantly, but we would have a meaningless system if we could not have enforced deportations. In order to have enforced deportations, regrettably, we do need to have detention.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-04-15/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-08-14T04:54:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-04-15