Inside Ireland’s deportation system: How gardaí carry out large-scale charter removals
It's normal to see children clasping their teddies at airports for comfort.
But watching a boy holding his turquoise teddy tight to his chest on his way to be deported jarred.
His mother followed, clutching a newborn. She draped a jacket over his head to keep the chill out. A grey blanket dangled underneath the coat.
She stared blankly ahead, perhaps pondering the future for her children.
In a first for An Garda Síochána, the Irish Examiner was provided with journalistic access to the deportation process.
It’s a rare insight into what is the sharp end of the State’s asylum system, where it flexes its power to remove people from the country.
It is, by its nature, a sensitive area, and one that is entangled in an increasingly heated political and ideological context.
Caught in the middle are those State agents tasked with the difficult job of doing the actual removal. The pictures provide a glimpse of that.
A male garda, standing at the door of a minibus, looks down — somewhat benevolently — at the boy walking towards him with the teddy bear.
A female garda is behind the boy, carrying what looks like the little fella’s jacket. The expression on her face reflects the poignancy of the moment.
They were one of three families — three mothers and seven children — on a flight of 52 Georgian nationals being flown out of Dublin Airport to Tbilisi, the capital of the Caucasian nation, on November 3.
Accompanying them are 117 gardaí, as well as medics, an interpreter, and independent human rights observer.
It was the culmination of months of exhaustive work by gardaí, work that the Irish Examiner followed from September to removal day.
Operation Trench 11
In an office of the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB), Detective Superintendent David Kennedy is putting some shape on Operation Trench 11 that was scheduled to happen around Halloween.
It would be the sixth chartered flight — a plane, along with pilot and air crew — this year. They are all hired by the State to fly a large group of people with deportation orders back to their country of origin.
It is the third charter to Georgia in 2025.
Called to the meeting on Wednesday, September 17, are detective inspectors, detective sergeants, and detective gardaí, each giving updates on where their jobs are at.
Other gardaí from around the country are ringing into the meeting.
“Operation Trench 11 started on August 27, and the flight is the November 3,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
“That reflects the amount of planning there is — it’s a huge operation logistically.”
He points out that GNIB comes into play at the end of the asylum application and immigration process, working after the various appeals and requests to leave to the minister for justice.
He says that, when the minister signs a deportation order to an individual, gardaí get advanced written communication.
He says: “The Department of Justice gives you three options: Leave voluntarily; consent to being deported; or submit why you shouldn’t be deported.”
At the end of the process, they must present themselves to the GNIB offices.
“At that stage, we come into the process,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
“After a ministerial order, we have no choice. What we seek to do is act in a professional, decent manner, with the highest human rights standards possible.”
He says part of the GNIB planning process, and before the charter contract was entered into by the Department of Justice, GNIB sought the department to appoint human rights observers to each operation.
“We are not legally obliged to have one, but we wanted it both for the returnees and ourselves,” he says.
The gardaí involved are broken down into three teams: Ground team, the escort team, and the back-up team.
The ground team, led by Detective Sergeant Wayne Carey, has a considerable job on its hands.
It takes the lead on all the administrative and logistical work required from flight requests to contacting embassies, organising fingerprints and documentation, liaising with the Irish Prison Service, and conducting risk assessments.
And them there is the business end of things — gathering intelligence on the whereabouts of their targets (those who have not come forward for deportation) and conducting arrests.
“The vast majority of people subject to deportation orders fail to show and present to GNIB, so they become evaders,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
GNIB currently has a total of 87 targets for its operation, but the final number is likely to be less.
“We’d hope it might be 35-40 returnees,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
He asks around the table who is “good to go” — meaning where there is no legal impediment to deportation.
What’s called the “operational order” is in a constant state of flux.
“The operational order changes by the hour,” he says. There are two operational orders. The first covers the planned “days of action”, the search and arrest operations. The second is the actual removal from the State.
GNIB officers held a Zoom call with immigration gardaí from around the country on Monday, two days before the meeting.
A key part of this was firming up the location of evaders and arranging an appropriate time for arrests.
Morning swoops
A series of swoops were conducted early that morning. The location of one was, fair to say, unusual.
A group of the Georgians were holed up in caravans at a Traveller halting site in North Dublin.
How gardaí managed to track them down to the halting site was not revealed.
At 4am that morning, GNIB officers held their parade and briefed members.
Along with GNIB officers in the briefing room were members of the armed support unit — there on the basis of a risk assessment — accompanied by officers from the divisional crime task force and another national unit. At 5am, they hit the targets. They met with some resistance. One tried to run.
One garda had to receive stitches when he fell trying to catch him. However, all six were arrested.
A prisoner truck was ready to take the prisoners to Cloverhill Remand Prison, which is also the designated facility for immigration-related detainees.
There was a total of 16 arrests across the country as part of an operation involving 66 gardaí in Dublin and 30 elsewhere. It’s an insight into the huge staffing numbers and resources involved. And that’s only phase two of the operation. Phase three will involve tracking down those who are still in hiding.
Det Supt Kennedy points out gardaí can only hold an evader in custody for a maximum of 56 days on foot of a deportation order, and that they would never leave themselves within days of flight day.
Arrangements for families consumes a lot of time. There are in the region of 25 people, typically mothers and children, on the initial list.
Identifying and liaising with these families forms phase four of the operation.
Det Supt Kennedy says gardaí engage at length with the mothers, with gardaí always dressed in plain clothes and travelling in unmarked cars.
“We try to make sure we have the least amount of impact on the family,” he said.
“We provide the food, we’ll have toys and stuff at the airport, Calpol, Neurofen, child car seats, whatever.”
He says all of the returnees have been repeatedly offered to avail of voluntary return by the Department of Justice, which now includes financial contributions to help them.
In relation to the plane, the detective superintendent is informed it will be an Airbus A321 — which can hold 230 passengers. This will be cut back to 220, keeping the exit rows clear.
Det Supt Kennedy says that, in all the charter flights to date, gardaí have only had to use restraints once out of 106 people.
On the system
On October 24, more than a month later, the Irish Examiner is back in for another briefing — again led by Det Supt Kennedy.
The number of returnees in detention has now reached 36. Their details are on the Department of Justice’s return case management system.
This is the information the Georgian ministry of interior examines to ensure it has the correct travel documentation, and it gives permission for those being deported to come home.
“We have a great relationship with the Georgian embassy here,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
“We get top-end assistance from them and co-operation.”
To further assist matters, an advance team of two GNIB officers will travel out to Tbilisi two days before arrival to make sure all arrangements are in place at that end.
There is some discussion about the “manifest” — the finished list of all those travelling on the flight on November 3.
It has to be given to the Georgian authorities a week before the flight, along with the parties operating the aircraft in order to get landing permission.
Det Supt Kennedy says that, while names can be taken off the list, no new names can be added once the list is sent.
The intended removal schedule for the day is discussed. It begins with a 9am parade, or briefing, at Sportslink, a sports facility at Santry.
Here, gardaí who will be the escorts can park their cars. There is a large conference room to hold the 140 or so gardaí.
Every “returnee” (person being deported) has to be risk assessed, taking in their willingness or otherwise to co-operate with gardaí; any record of resistance or violence; if they are in prison, what their record is; together with any other conditions they may have. It’s a live assessment.
Most people are assessed as low- to medium-risk, requiring two or three escorts. Those deemed high risk could have three or four escorts.
Designated gardaí are assigned to a particular person and particular seats on the plane.
They get a pack of information about their person, including the risk assessment.
“Our approach is to engage with people,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
“We don’t drag people out of their beds. And we never go near schools.”
‘Family units’
Again, at this meeting, there is considerable focus on the families. As it stands there are now five “family units” travelling.
Family unit one comprises a mother and a four-year-old boy. They are based in Wicklow. The dad has previously been deported. The meeting is told the mother is “resistant” to going, and gardaí will “continue to try and engage with her”.
Family unit two is a mother and two children, a 16-year-old boy and a nine-year-old girl. They are living in Co Clare. There are no reports of resistance.
Family unit three is living in Kerry. It comprises of a mother and two children, a six-year-old boy and a five-month-old boy. Her attitude is “not great”, the meeting is told. The father has gone missing.
Family unit four is in Co Mayo and are “not overly compliant”. With the mother is a 17-year-old boy, a 15-year-old boy, and seven-year-old girl. The eldest boy is turning 18 in a month. This might require two escort teams, meaning four gardaí. The plan is to bring them to a hotel in Dublin the night before.
Family unit five is in Cork, comprising of a mother, a six-year-old boy, and a four-year-old boy.
The mother is “resistant”, and the plan is to drive them up in the morning.
Det Supt Kennedy says the gardaí use minibuses with darkened windows to ensure privacy and plenty of room inside. Families know in advance what is happening.
Gardaí give families “two to three hours to pack up”.
He says: “The last couple of times the kids did not eat the food we had provided, so we bought them McDonald’s. I’ve yet to see a child upset.”
The families will be brought to a room at the Dublin Airport Garda Station, where there will be toys for the kids to play with.
“The older teenagers tend to look at their phones, watch movies,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
“And the human rights monitor comes and talks to them, lets them know who he is and his role, and that it is independent.”
There is some talk at the meeting about a family in Donegal, but they are “not good to go” as the father has died and the family has lodged a legal appeal.
Det Supt Kennedy says that if the father of the families is travelling, they will sit with their wives and children on the plane.
The meeting also goes through the returnees who are in prison, the vast bulk held under immigration laws and only a couple with criminal convictions. A huge database about them is brought up on the screen.
There are about 25 in Cloverhill, five in Cork Prison, five in Dóchas Women’s Prison, and one in Portlaoise. There’s a check to see if all the vehicles — including prison vans and minibuses — have been arranged.
Following a search by prison officers, all the prisoners have to be searched by the ground team collecting them. They will also go through screening at Dublin Airport. The plan is to collect the prisoners around 2.50pm.
There is a long list of other administrative details that have to be tied down, including arrangements for the handling agent to look after all the check-in luggage, organising the paramedics, and providing the interpreter.
The meeting refers to another family, who are all adults and housed in Citywest.
Given the recent protests, which turned ugly and descended into rioting, there is agreement at the meeting not to proceed with their deportation at this time.
“It’s very delicate at the moment, and we need to be careful how to deal with that,” Det Supt Kennedy says.
“The last thing we want to do is see more violence. So we’ll wait and see.”
Citywest riots
The Citywest rioting — and the incident that was used to spark it — graphically illustrates the heightened tensions around the international protection system in Ireland, its integrity, and the determination of a section of the population to weaponise it.
At the heart of it is a 10-year-girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by a man near the Citywest international protection accommodation service (Ipas) centre.
This man had been refused asylum and was subject to a deportation order, but he was still in the country. This raised a separate problem of trying to deport people back to states that won’t accept them.
Along with genuine sympathisers of the girl who wanted to protest, there were a plethora of far-right groups, domestic and international online influencers, and known agitators jumping on the tragedy to propel their campaign of hatred and dehumanisation of asylum seekers, migrants, in many instances anyone non-white, as well as throw glass bottles, rocks, and concrete at gardaí.
As the Irish Examiner revealed, even fringe dissident republican groups were involved. The Government has promised a “firm but fair” asylum system, and it has implemented a number of restrictions. It has funded a significant expansion of deportations, through charter flights, and gives significant publicity to each deportation.
It has also tried to publicise voluntary returns — along with a financial inducement — to avoid the costly and complex deportations.
The language being used, not least by the Government and politicians, is an issue that can cause concern.
Researchers and practitioners, as well as historians, know that words can embolden those seeking to undermine cohesion, dehumanise people, and undermine basic humanity.
The extent to which the threat to minorities, and society, has worsened emerged over a week ago.
Security services in the North and the Republic identified the existence of a cross-border violent right-wing extremist organisation.
The Irish Examiner revealed that two men had been arrested on suspicion of membership of an unlawful organisation — the first such arrests in relation to a violent far-right group in Ireland.
The allegation is that this group intended to bomb a mosque in Galway, and it also intended to target asylum accommodation — something which has caused fear and anxiety within the Muslim community and beyond.
Imams told the Irish Examiner that the Government must urgently act on this development and tackle hatred head-on.
However, they noted a lack of outrage and concern, at least expressed publicly, from the Government and the political world generally.
Change of schedule
Departure day sees a change in the running schedule. As appears to be a feature of the deportation area, events are constantly happening and plans have to change.
There are only three families going now, not five.
One of the families — family unit five in Cork — has gone Awol. They were not at their Ipas accommodation centre when gardaí called, but much of their stuff was, so gardaí suspect they’ll be back sometime. Gardaí will come back to them another time.
A decision had also been made not to take the family in Kerry on this flight.
Another family also left the hotel. They had booked into an Airbnb. But gardaí managed to track them down. The mother was having a party when the gardaí showed up.
One of the five prisoners from Cork was brought up the day before and, when he arrived in Portlaoise, he had “kicked off”.
When they placed him in his cell in the prison, he said he was “not leaving”. He indicated he was “going to resist”, adding that there could be violence.
Family room
When we entered the family room — where the families were being kept at Dublin Airport Garda Station — it was all very calm.
The various families were gathered at the bottom half of the fairly large and modern room.
Two girls, from different families, were busy moving around and playing with children’s cards on one of the tables, seemingly content and very much involved in their activity.
There were three teenage boys, sitting separately. Two had their headphones on, and a third seemed to be watching something on his phone.
Nearest was the mother with the baby. She was busy tending to the child while her son was walking around with his turquoise teddy bear.
There was the leftovers of takeaways on one of the tables. Bananas and juices were scattered around a number of the tables.
Various plain clothes gardaí, along with the interpreter, were sitting in the near section of the room.
They looked like people do when they are sitting and waiting around for hours.
When one of the mothers approached the gardaí, pointing to her phone and talking in Georgian, the translator stepped in.
He said that the woman’s solicitor had written a letter to the Department of Justice. Gardaí nodded and reassured her. She said no more, walked back to her seat, and resumed chatting to one of the other mothers.
As we left, the two mothers were still chatting and seemed to be in good humour, while the third mum was busying herself with her own kids. The boys were on their phones, and the two girls were playing away.
Talking later to the human rights monitor, who declined to be named, he reported a similar experience of how the families were. However, he said that one of the mothers was a bit upset and was not happy.
He also noted how one of the girls said she had no English when she arrived a couple of years ago, but she was now fluent.
Back at the briefing room at Sportslink, GNIB boss Detective Chief Superintendent Aidan Minnock made time for a quick interview.
He says administrative changes in 2023 and 2024 brought around 100 gardaí back into operational policing, creating a “network of immigration officers right around the country”.
These he could use when conducting these massive and complex charter deportations.
“One primary focus for us is persons who are illegally in the State, and even more so those engaged in criminality here,” he said.
He says more than 30% of the people removed from the State this year have convictions from Ireland. This does not include those coming into the country with convictions from their home state.
The charter to Romania in October — the first charter to an EU country — carried 23 people with a total of 565 convictions, including four sex offenders.
Like Det Supt Kennedy, he is keen to stress the voluntary return scheme has been incentivised further by the department.
“Importantly with [voluntary return], you can come back,” he says.
“Once a [deportation order] has been issued, there’s essentially an exclusion on the person returning to Ireland.”
He says that when a deportation order is signed by the minister, GNIB has “no discretion” and must implement it.
However, he stresses that Ireland does not operate like Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in the US.
“It’s not a case where we doorstep someone at their home in the morning. This is the end result of a process of long applications, appeals, and legal reviews, and not availing of [voluntary return], and then failing to leave the State.”
Asked did he and GNIB managers have to block out the wider political context in their work, he said: “We don’t blank it out; our remit is clear and deportation orders are very clear. All the cases have been considered by the minister and his officials.
“When it comes to GNIB, our job is to effect it. It removes discretion and we trust the process.”
He adds: “We are trying to do removals in a dignified way, a professional way. We interact with the people and engage with them.”
The interview breaks up as the main briefing is about to start. Its 4pm, four hours to scheduled takeoff.
‘Largest’ operation to date
Detective Sergeant Alan Murphy is the escort lead.
Though of a lower rank, he is assigned as garda officer in charge on board the plane.
He is one of three trained to the standards of Frontex, the EU border agency.
Giving a few initial comments, Det Supt Kennedy says this operation is “probably the largest” they have done to date — with 117 gardaí and two garda staff, along with 52 Georgian nationals.
In addition, there are two medics, an interpreter, the human rights observer, and the baggage handler.
That’s not to mention the half a dozen or so motorbike outriders from the roads policing unit to ensure quick transport.
Det Sgt Murphy tells the escorts this is the third charter to Georgia this year, and points to the large printouts for the escorts on their seating arrangements.
He tells them the back-up team, in named orange high-vis, will bring the returnees on board and fill from the back of the plane. Families are brought on first.
The escort team is in yellow bibs. He tells the escorts that there is an interpreter to assist. He says movement on board is “highly restricted”.
If someone, including escorts, want to use the toilet, they raise their hand and a member of the back-up team will come to them.
If an escort wants to use the toilet, a member of the back-up team sits in their place. If it’s a returnee, the back-up team will bring them to the toilet and back.
It’s a five-and-a-half hour flight and due to land 5.25am local time, he tells them. The back-up team leader is Det Sgt Karl Murray.
The chain of command on board, Det Sgt Murphy says, is the pilot, himself, and Det Sgt Murray.
He urges the gardaí to use the toilets at Sportslink before they board.
He says that, while the plane has been searched, escorts should do another check at their seats.
He urges gardaí to be “mindful of conversations” with fellow members in front of the returnees, and not to talk about money issues.
“This is the end of their dream to live in the EU and the plans they had. They don’t need to know about financial aspects of your duty.”
He also advises them not to discuss where their accommodation is or where you are going to eat.
He says that two Polish police escorts were recently badly assaulted in Tbilisi, although they could not be sure if they were targeted or if it was random.
He says the two coaches carrying the gardaí, the minibuses carrying the families, and the various prison trucks will all gather at the entrance to gate nine at 5.10am. Chief Supt Minnock wraps things up.
“Our reputation and the reputation of the Garda Commissioner rests on success of these operations. They are very high profile, and the minister is closely watching,” he says.
This, he says, includes respectful behaviour in Tbilisi when out eating or socialising, and he urges members to be early at the airport for the charter flight home.
Det Supt Kennedy firmly reminds people to use the toilets now.
A fleet of some 11 vehicles line up for gate nine, which is at the back of the airport.
There are two lanes to enter, secured by large flashing gates. This is where the security screening is done.
The family minibuses are driven in and parked. The boy with the turquoise teddy and his mother, holding the baby, are first. They fly through and are back out in less than five minutes.
The second family — a mother with a girl and a teenage boy — are next. There are no obvious signs of distress. They go through the procedure of putting their belongings into crates. The girl looks calm and smiles nervously when asked to pass through the walk-through screen.
One of them goes to the bathroom on the way out.
Det Supt Kennedy is concerned that they are behind time.
The last family — a mother, two teenage boys, and a girl — go through the procedure calmly without any apparent bother.
The minibuses carrying the families head on to the plane; the longer process of screening the adult returnees — each done individually — begins.
The seven women from Dóchas pass through without hassle.
There’s no sign of any trouble from the male prisoner at Portlaoise.
Some of the men even joke with their garda escorts approaching the screening, one laughing as he mockingly tidies this hair when asked to take off his hat.
Boarding time
Battered by the strong wind at the apron, 16 uniform gardaí, eight each side, provide a human corridor between the van doors and the aircraft staircase. Many of them shuffle and turn as the wind whips around them.
There’s a thick blue mattress on the concrete. That’s there in case there are problems and someone has to be restrained on the ground. Without the mattress, they could end up being injured against the concrete.
Returnees step out of the vans, flanked by two members of the back-up team, who walk them up the staircase. They hand over the returnees to two other members of the team at the top of the staircase — a process that takes around 15-20 seconds. The human rights observer, wearing an identifiable blue bib, watches proceedings.
When one prison van is empty, it drives on and the next vehicle in line takes its place. Some of the prisoners move spritely, the second garda escort hangs back, and they are up in no time. In a few cases, there are three garda escorts — but little of note happens.
It all seems to be ticking along nicely. Until it doesn’t.
Suddenly there’s movement and a member of the back-up team kicks the mattresses along the ground towards the door of a prison van. A screaming prisoner is being carried out. Seven gardaí are now holding him and place him down on the mattress. The prisoner is screaming: “No, no, no.”
The gardaí lift him up and move slightly forward before one of them shouts “back, back”, and the prisoner is placed back down on the mattress again.
The gardaí spend some time adjusting their positions. They lift him up again, having a more secure grip now. They carry him slowly and carefully up the staircase. There’s a bit of commotion and movement inside the plane as they try and get him into a seat.
Det Supt Kennedy says there are two experienced gardaí beside him. The interpreter went down to him to assist. After a few minutes, it all seemed to settle.
It turns out he got agitated when he couldn’t use his phone, which he was able to get once seated and settled.
The human rights observer, who is doing his third charter and who writes a report to the Department of Justice after each trip, says he hasn’t seen that happen before and that there’s never much of a problem bringing people onto the plane.
As he talks, normality has returned with the boarding as the remainder of detainees go up the step. Some of them smile and joke with the gardaí as they go and begin their journey home — their dreams of Ireland behind them and their lives in Georgia ahead of them.
GNIB is already planning its next charter deportations, with three expected in January, February, and March.
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