Some 70 Romanian and Moldovan failed asylum-seekers were due to be deported from the State in the early hours of this morning on a chartered aircraft.
The operation came after a week-long series of raids by gardaí in counties Cork, Galway, Wexford, Tipperary and Dublin and followed co-operation between the Irish, Romanian and Moldovan authorities.
It was due to bring to 300 the number of failed asylum-seekers deported in the first three months of the year, double the figure for the same period last year. A further 1,000 deportation orders are outstanding.
Last night's operation was the second of its kind in as many months to Romania and Moldova. Last month a similar number of people from both countries were deported.
Some of those due to be deported last night had been held in Mountjoy Prison for a week but around half the party were picked up by gardaí in raids from early morning until nightfall yesterday.
All have had their asylum applications rejected and had exhausted the appeals process.
A significant number had fled their last known addresses when served with deportation orders and had even assumed fake identities. However, they were tracked down as part of an intelligence-led operation carried out by the Garda National Immigration Bureau.
The group included around 55 Romanians - 40 men, 10 women and a small number of children. Around 10 Moldovans were also included in the group.
Last night's flight was due to take off at 2 a.m. from Dublin Airport and was scheduled to visit the Romanian capital, Bucharest, and Chisinau, the capital of Moldova. The deportees were due to be accompanied on the flight by a number of gardaí who were due back in Ireland today.
It is understood an Irish advance party was already at the two destinations yesterday and had worked with the authorities in Romania and Moldova to put in place the necessary paperwork to repatriate all of those on board last night's flight.
Previously, gardaí have deported groups of refugees in smaller numbers on commercial flights under Garda escort.
However, the process is more expensive than chartering a plane for a larger number and the provision of Garda escorts for smaller numbers is more labour intensive.
