Part 2
More money being spent in the Immigration Business
Appeals Deportation Orders
21,203 international protection appeals awaiting a decision as of 1 October 2026.
- IPAT had completed 6,902 appeals by 1 October 2026.
2. Its budget increased by 95% between 2023 and 2025.
3. Administrative staffing increased from 37 to 88.
4. Part-time tribunal members increased from 44 to 134
The new rules do not automatically apply to everyone already caught up in the system. EU Regulation 2024/1348 expressly provides that applications lodged before 12 June 2026 remain governed by the old rules.
But the Government had the opportunity to address this when drafting and introducing the new legislation. It could have considered transitional provisions to bring existing cases into a faster process, rather than leaving thousands of people in the old system of lengthy appeals and delays.
Why was this not done? Why were the people already waiting for decisions effectively left out? The Government cannot simply point to EU rules and wash its hands of the problem. It was responsible for preparing Ireland’s legislation and planning how the transition would work.
Meanwhile, the backlog remains, a person subject to a deportation order, continues to have
The cost and consequences of immigration are now spiralling out of control, placing an enormous burden on public finances, transforming our communities and reshaping the country’s cultural and demographic future.
Billions are being poured into this system while Irish people remain homeless, families struggle to find affordable housing and taxpayers are left footing an ever-growing bill. Ordinary people are watching their country change at a pace they never agreed to, while the Government seems unable to account for the true cost or consequences. How much more must the public endure before those in power are held accountable?
Hilkka Becker
International
Protection Appeals
Tribunal
Annual Report 2025
“It is with great pleasure and pride that I present this Annual Report to the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Mr Jim O’Callaghan TD”.
Accommodation for just one person alone can cost up to an average contracted rate (2025) €71 = €25,915.
25.915 x 21.000 = €544.2 Million Euro.€544.2 well over half a billion euros.
Plus other expenses to the state.
One appeal after another, years of free accommodation, millions down the drain and apparently people working are expected to fund this madness indefinitely.This is a huge business now for some, the longer these cases drag on the better for some: Solictors, Barristors, Landlord, IPAS Suppliers and so on, why would they want to stop it?
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Now turn to the deportation industry and the costs here are just staggering as well.
Apparently there is no limit to how much can be charged to put someone on a plane and send them home. The cost per person has become so outrageous that you would be forgiven for thinking they were being flown first class, with a private jet, a personal concierge and champagne on board. At this point, calling it value for money is taking the art of understatement to a whole new level.
The Department of Justice has entered into a potential €5 million contract with Air Partner Ltd to arrange charter aircraft for deportations and removals.
A single flight to South Africa, carrying just 42 people, incurred an aircraft charter bill of €735,000 before VAT and additional operational expenses.
€735,000 for just the aircraft alone to deport 42 people:
A single deportation flight to South Africa cost €735,000 for the aircraft alone. South Africa deportation flight departed Dublin Airport on Thursday, 18 June 2026, at approximately 3:30 pm.
€17,500 per person just for the flight.
Add Garda escorts, overtime, travel, fuel, accommodation and other operational expenses, and the final bill to the Irish taxpayer is considerably higher.
So how much was the real cost person deported?
Business-class return to Johannesburg
Around €1,865–€2,300
For perspective, €17,500 could buy roughly seven or more business-class return journeys to South Africa at the indicative fares above.
The flight was arranged through Air Partner Ltd, a UK-based aviation services company owned by the American aviation group Wheels Up Experience Inc.
But the aircraft charter is only one part of the expenditure.
Where does the rest of the money go?
The operation also required Garda escorts. Figures subsequently reported for the South African operation indicate that 84 Gardaí were deployed in connection with the removal of 42 people.
That is two Garda escorts for every person deported.
This operation resulted in the removal of 42 South African nationals – 9 adult males, 18 adult females and 15 juveniles.
Two of the individuals removed from the State had been convicted of offences
The cost of those Garda deployments is additional to the aircraft charter. It potentially includes overtime, travel, accommodation, subsistence and other associated expenses.
There are also costs associated with medical personnel, human rights observers, transport and logistical arrangements.
Yet the public has not been provided with a complete, itemised final cost for this particular operation.
The question is straightforward: how much did it actually cost to deport 42 people to South Africa?
Almost 100 Garda escorts per flight
The wider figures are equally worthy of scrutiny.
Departmental figures reported in 2026 identified 988 Garda escort deployments across ten deportation operations, involving 377 people.
That represents an average of approximately 99 Garda escort deployments per operation.
The Department has explained that staffing requirements depend on individual risk assessments, the possibility of resistance and the criminal backgrounds of some people being removed.
Security is clearly important. However, the public is entitled to ask whether these staffing levels are proportionate, how many Gardaí are actually required on board the aircraft and how much these operations are costing the policing budget.
Immigration is becoming a really serious and very profitable business now.
The Air Partner contract
There is another aspect that warrants examination.
The Department of Justice awarded Air Partner Ltd a charter-flight contract in November 2024.
The original tender indicated an estimated contract value of €5 million over an initial three-year period, with potential extensions.
Air Partner is not an Irish-owned company. It is part of the American-owned Wheels Up group.
How many companies competed for this contract, whether Irish-owned businesses submitted tenders, how the bids were evaluated and why Air Partner was selected.
There is also a distinction between the company arranging a charter flight and the airline actually operating the aircraft, did Air Partner own or lease the aircraft, or subcontract the flight to another operator?
The question is simple: how much did it really cost to deport those 42 people to South Africa, and who received the money?
The Department of Justice should publish the final, fully itemised expenditure for this operation and provide comparable figures for every charter deportation.
Irish people should not have to piece together the cost of a Government operation from parliamentary replies and separate media reports.
If the Government believes this programme represents value for money, it should have no difficulty showing the public exactly what it costs.
The immigration industry in 2026 has become a seemingly bottomless money pit, with costs spiraling into the stratosphere.
It becomes more bizarre by the day. The sheer scale of the spending is becoming obscene, money being thrown around hand over fist, seemingly without any proper scrutiny or meaningful accountability or anyone having to explain where it all goes.
If anyone dares to ask where the money is going, the standard response seems to be that the Department simply doesn’t have those figures.
And this is from a Department headed by a Minister on a massive salary, backed by an entire department of publicly funded officials and civil servants.
Yet, when a TD asks for accountability of spending in the Dáil, a straightforward breakdown of where the money is going, apparently nobody can provide the figures.
Millions can be committed and spent, but keeping an accurate account of the bill seems to be beyond them.
The Minister says:
“A breakdown of the cost … is not recorded by my Department in the manner requested.”
Translated:
The Department cannot (or does not) separately identify how much of the charter-flight expenditure relates specifically to failed asylum seekers.
https://www.rte.ie/news/politics/2026/0621/1579572-deportations-cost-ireland
You really couldn’t make it up.
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152
Latest weekly IPAS accommodation new arrivals found
Week ending 18 October 2026
Plus long term visa applications
| long term visa applications | Received 42,708 | 31/08/2026 |
At this point, the scale of immigration into Ireland is becoming increasingly difficult to comprehend, never mind justify.
Between January and August 2026 alone, the State received 42,708 long-term visa applications more than 1,000 every week. Add to that the continuing arrival of international protection applicants, the mounting accommodation costs and the extraordinary sums being spent on deportations, and the picture becomes one of a system complete out of control, with serious questions about planning, control and accountability.
The clock is ticking
I walked into a shop in my own home town last week and every customer I saw appeared to be foreign. Now this is only a small town, two shops. Walking down the street, I was struck by how many people passing me appeared to be from overseas. The pace of change is frightening and impossible to ignore.
The real question people are asking now is: Will voters get the chance to remove this Government and demand a change of direction before our homeland, our towns and communities are transformed beyond recognition?
We cannot keep putting off this debate. The clock is ticking.
