Gardaí deport 33 EU nationals to Poland and Lithuania

By Bairbre Holmes, Press Association

Gardaí deported 33 Polish and Lithuanian nationals on a specially chartered flight from Dublin on Sunday.

In a statement An Garda Síochána said the 31 men and two women ranged in age from their early 20s to their early 60s.

All had been convicted in courts and received custodial sentences for their crimes.

The operation was carried out by the Garda National Immigration Bureau and saw 20 of the deportees brought to the flight directly from the prisons where they were serving sentences.

Gardaí say the remaining 13 were “arrested and detained from communities across Ireland and were lodged in prison prior to their removal”.

Their convictions included sexual and domestic violence offences, drug crimes, organised retail and burglary crime and road traffic offences.

Under European law, EU citizens can be deported if it can be proven they “represent a genuine, present and sufficiently serious threat affecting one of the fundamental interests of society”.

The 17 Polish and 16 Lithuanian nationals received exclusion orders banning them from re-entering the country for periods of up to 10 years.

The flight left Dublin on Sunday and landed in Poland before travelling onwards to Lithuania.

The Government signed a contract in November 2024 which allows charter aircraft for deportations.

The first flight was to Georgia in February 2025.