Passengers on a deportation flight to Pakistan were offered pork sausages as part of a fry-up despite the jet’s destination to a Muslim-majority country. The slip-up happened on the journey from Dublin to Islamabad on September 23.
It came to light in a human rights report which said gardaí complained about the quality of the food on board and including bangers made of pork was “inappropriate”. Islam forbids the eating of pork or pork by-products as it is viewed as impure.
Halal food is believed to have been on offer on the flight, though this was reportedly not made specific in a brief.
A human rights monitor was on the flight along with a doctor, interpreter and gardaí, according to The Irish Times, which obtained a series of monitoring reports from the Department of Justice.
The “overall” operations were carried out in a humane way and with respect for the “rights and dignity” of the 24 men being deported, according to reports cited by the same publication.
Ireland’s first chartered deportation flight to Pakistan cost £410,000 (473,000 euros).
It formed part of efforts to crack down on illegal immigration to the Republic.
There have also been chartered deportation flights to Georgia, Nigeria and Romania, with some 205 people removed at a cost of £865,000 (1 million euros), according to Ireland’s Department of Justice.
The Islamabad flight is reported to have seen one man grow concerned a garda was filming him as he was being escorted onto the plane while two men returned to the jet on landing out of concern their belongings would not be returned to them.
On the flight to Georgia, one man was restrained and handcuffed before he was carried onto the plane.
He had to be carried onto the aircraft on a mat “face up, lying on his back” and restrained by “a number of gardaí”. The man had reportedly been demanding access to his phone, which was in the hold.
Ireland’s Justice Minister, Jim O’Callaghan, has intimated he would be open to the idea of sending failed asylum seekers to hubs outside the European Union for processing.
The UK pursued a similar approach, with its Rwanda deportation scheme, which was scrapped by Labour when the party triumphed at the general election in July 2024.
Fresh proposals could see failed asylum seekers sent to North Macedonia instead, the Mail reports.
