UP TO 42 South African people, including 15 children, have been deported from Ireland via the latest government charter flight.
The Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) carried out an operation on Thursday removing them on foot of deportation orders issued by the minister for justice.
This operation resulted in the removal of 18 women, nine men and the 15 juveniles.
The children removed were all part of family groups and were not deported on their own, according to the department of justice.
The costs for the charter flight were €735,000, excluding VAT, for a return flight.
The flight left Dublin on Thursday afternoon and arrived this morning in Johannesburg with each person subjected to the deportation order.
Commenting on the flight this morning, justice minister Jim O’Callaghan said the “vast majority of South African nationals are legally resident in the State and positively contribute to society”, but he warned that Ireland’s immigration system must be rules based.
“The enforcement aspects of our laws, including deportation orders, are an essential requirement for the system to work effectively and to ensure there is public confidence in the application of our legislation in this area,” O’Callaghan said.
Minister of state with responsibility for migration Colm Brophy echoed this, saying that Ireland “welcomes migrants as they play an important role in our economic, social and community life”, but that they must enter through the various legal pathways available as part of abiding by the laws of the State.
Of the 42 people on the flight, the department said, two of them had been “convicted of offences in this jurisdiction” and their removal came as part of ongoing nationwide operations by gardaí.
The returnees were accompanied on the flight by members of An Garda Síochána, medical staff, an interpreter and a human rights observer.
Previous deportation flights
This week’s flight is the fourth deportation charter operation this year. Three previous flights removed 130 people from the State.
It follows six charter operations conducted last year which saw the removal of 205 people from the State.
The flights have come as part of a wider toughening of migration rules, with an increase of 96% in deportation orders for last year compared to 2024. In 2025, 4,700 deportation orders were signed.
According to the minister, there have been 2,108 deportation orders signed this year so far.