Number of deportation flights set to rise as €14m tender issued

The Department of Justice has signalled the number of deportation flights from Ireland will rise in coming years, saying new spending on charter services will be almost three times what it was under a 2024 contract. The department, led by Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan, has put an estimated value of some €14 million on a new tender to charter flight services for “return operations” under the Immigration Act. The duration of the new contract will be five years.The previous tender for similar services, issued in mid-2024, had an estimated value of €5 million over three years. The money excludes VAT. “The State anticipates that the coming year should begin to see an increasing demand for return operations with the demand growing in subsequent years,” the department said in tender documents issued on Wednesday. READ MOREReplying to questions, it said the tender was intended “to account for increased costs associated with conducting charters, as well as bolstering the department’s capacity to conduct more charter flights than the contract in 2024″. [ Deportation flights: How much do they cost, how do they work and why have they ramped up?Opens in new window ]Charter flight deportations recommenced in 2025 and the new tender process comes amid an increase this year in the number of flights. “Seven charter flights to date in 2026 have seen the removal of 245 people from the State, including 91 EU citizens who were removed on grounds of criminality,” said the department.There were six charter flights last year, removing 205 people. This included five operations to non-EU destinations (182 people) and another to remove 23 EU citizens on grounds of criminality.The most expensive of these flights went to South Africa in June, removing 42 people at an estimated cost of €735,000. Another flight to South Africa in February to remove 63 people cost €585,075. A Pakistan flight in September 2025 cost €473,000 and removed 24 people.The services required under the new tender comprise the provision of charter planes “and all services required to support the return from this State of persons who do not have permission to be in the State, upon these aircraft, by An Garda Síochána”.This includes travel management and airport operation services; airport slot co-ordination; air traffic control and refuelling services; and non-scheduled air transport services. “By way of background, the State is experiencing large numbers of individuals claiming international protection or seeking entry to the State by other means,” the tender document notes.“It is clear not all of these individuals will be given permission to remain, and it has been the experience of the State that in some cases those without permission do not leave voluntarily. In seeking to address this challenge, the State has substantially boosted the processing capacities of the Immigration Services.”The department said the current Air Partner Ltd contract was “near its conclusion as it is close to its contract value”. That contract was signed in November 2024. “Charter flights provide an alternative to commercial flights and can be more appropriate in circumstances when a group of individuals are being removed to the same destination. This has increased the options available to An Garda Síochána to effect removals and deportations.”