Newspapers today June 21st,2026

A total of 42 individuals were removed from the State on a chartered flight back to their home country of South Africa.

The Garda National Immigration Bureau carried out an operation on Thursday removing individuals from the State on foot of deportation orders issued by the Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan.

As a result of this operation, 42 South African nationals were deported from Ireland.

This included 27 adults - nine men and 18 women - and 15 juveniles, who were all part of family groups.

All people were removed on a chartered flight which left Dublin on Thursday afternoon for South Africa, arriving on Friday morning.

Two of the individuals deported from the State had been convicted of offences in this jurisdiction.

Their removal supports ongoing operations by gardaí nationwide, a Garda spokesperson

“Gardaí continue to work closely with the Department of Justice in implementing immigration policy and the Irish Prison Service in the implementation of these operations”, a spokesperson added.

In 2024, the Department of Justice took over administrative immigration registration functions from the gardaí.