The deportation of 32 failed asylum seekers to Georgia is “completely reasonable thing”, Colm O’Gorman has said. 

The move is the first to since the State signed a new contract in November for charter planes to carry out the service. 

Further deportations are being planned for later on this year. 

This morning, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan said he did not “derive any enjoyment from this” but said Ireland’s immigration laws must be enforced. 

He added that, “If you’re seeking asylum and you’re not entitled to asylum, don’t come to Ireland.” 

Amid some disquiet among liberals at the Minister’s tone, former Amnesty International boss Colm O’Gorman said the Government has a right to deport people. 

“People are entitled to present themselves at the border of a country and seek international protection,” he told The Hard Shoulder. 

“Then the job of the State is to assess their claim for international protection and, if it’s valid, to grant it. 

“And if it isn’t, to refuse it.” 

Mr O’Gorman added that deportations are a “normal part of any international protection system”. 

“If people aren’t entitled to asylum, it’s perfectly reasonable for the State to deny them asylum,” he said. 

“It’s required by law and it’s perfectly reasonable and proper of the State to deport them or to ask them to leave of their own accord.” 

Rhetoric

While he acknowledged that the Government’s rhetoric has changed, Mr O’Gorman said the reality of the asylum system has not. 

“I don’t think we should get too carried away that the State is doing what the State should do in order to ensure that we have a fair, effective and efficient asylum process,” he said. 

“That’s a completely reasonable thing to have done.”

Main image: A plane in the sky. Picture by: Alamy.com