Department spent €422,000 on business class flights for officers returning after deportations

Spending on deportation flights last year amounted to €1.09 million, of which around €262,000 covered business class travel.

The Department of Justice spent more than €1.8 million on deportation flights over a four-year period including at least €422,000 on business class flights for escort officers returning from operations.

The department said expenditure was sometimes necessary for executive seats when a deportation officer was immediately returning to Ireland from a long-haul flight without staying at the destination.