THE Republic of Ireland has deported 35 Nigerians over immigration offences.

The deportees comprised 21 men, nine women, and five children, according to the Irish Times.

It stated that the Garda National Immigration Bureau carried out the operation.

It also said the deportees were carried on a chartered flight that left Dublin Airport on Wednesday night and landed in Nigeria on Thursday, June 5.

The Irish Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan, was quoted as saying that the deportees were among the people whose applications had been refused and who had had deportation orders issued against them.

This is “the foundation of any modern rules-based immigration process.

“People coming to Ireland must follow the appropriate pathways for legal migration, and these pathways must be adhered to and protected for our immigration system to work fairly and effectively. If a person’s application for international protection is refused and they are ordered to leave the State, they must do so,” O’Callaghan stated.

He said all the individuals deported arrived in Nigeria safely despite an unscheduled stopover prompted by a medical incident on board.

Speaking on the development, the Nigerians in Diaspora Commission (NiDCOM) spokesperson Abdur-Rahman Balogun said the commission had not received prior notice of the action.

Checks by The ICIR reports showed there was no statement from NiDCOM yet on its Facebook, X (formerly Twitter), and website pages regarding the deportation as of the time of filing this report.