A total of 114 deportation orders have been signed in the first two months of this year ordering people to remove themselves from the State, Tánaiste and Minister for Justice Frances Fitzgerald has told the Dáil.

A total of 61 deportation orders were signed in January, and a further 53 were signed last month. The number of orders signed in November and December was 158 and 92 respectively.

Ms Fitzgerald provided the figures from the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service in response to a parliamentary question by Fianna Fáil leader Micheál Martin on Thursday.

The Minister said a deportation order required the person concerned to remove themselves from the State, and it was only where they failed to do so that the State was forced to remove them and “enforce the rule of law”.

“The process leading to deportation is extensive with many avenues of appeal, including judicial review in the High Court open to persons subject to deportation orders.

“Where persons have been identified as a threat to national security by An Garda Síochána it remains open to me to make deportation orders against such persons, and I have done so in the past, and will continue to do so where appropriate.”

Statutory criteria which must be considered in relation to a decision to make a deportation order under section 3(6) of the Immigration Act 1999 include national security and public policy, the character and conduct of the person concerned, and the common good, Ms Fitzgerald said.

Statutory factor

There were 1,195 deportation orders signed last year, and in total 428 people were actually deported. Ms Fitzgerald told the Dáil in January the total cost of flights for those people who were removed from the State last year was €698,814.28.

The top five countries of origin for those deported in 2016 were Nigeria, China (including Hong Kong), Ghana, Brazil and, jointly, Albania and South Africa.

Figures for deportation orders signed in each of the last 12 months were February 2017 (53), January 2017 (61), December (92), November (158), October (101), September (153), August (63), July (184), June (90), May (115), April (91) and March (30).