A group of Georgians and Albanians deported from Ireland

Ireland has deported 23 Georgian and Albanian nationals.

The Department of Justice and Equality said it deported 23 people from Ireland on December 4 in cooperation with Belgium, Iceland, and the EU Border and Coast Guard Agency known as Frontex.

A group of 23 people, of which 19 were men, came from Georgia and Albania. The Ministry said enforced removals were a measure of the last resort after the group had failed to leave Ireland themselves or with the assistance of the International Office for Migration.

“Each individual case to remain in the State had been considered in detail and all available appeals processes had been exhausted,” the Ministry explained why it issued deportation orders.

The Irish Times reported that the plane flying the group out of Ireland back home to Tirana, Albania, and Tbilisi, Georgia, landed also in Iceland and Belgium boarding other Albanians and Georgians deported from the two countries respectively.

A rapid increase of applications by Georgians and Albanians

Ireland’s International Protection Office claimed in October 2019 the number of applicants asking for international protection has increased by 39.1% from the beginning of the year. There are 4,198 applications on the table in 2019, while there were 3,018 during the same period a year ago.

People applying for international protection came from different countries in the last two years, but a massive increase in the number of applicants can be observed in the case of Albania and Georgia.

Source: IPO, October 2019

A total of 381 Georgians applied between January and October 2018, but the figure rose to 614 applications in the same period of 2019.  A more massive rise can be seen in the case of Albanian applicants. While 965 have applied for international protection this year, the number stood only at 329 in 2018.

Ireland, however, considers the two countries as “safe” from April 16, 2018, alongside South Africa, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Serbia, and Montenegro. For this reason, the rejection in the case of Albanians and Georgians stood at more than 97% last year, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles reported.

Prime Minister Leo Varadkar said this November that many Albanian and Georgian people have been trying to get to Ireland using fake documents to seek international protection afterward, The Irish Times also wrote.