THE JUSTICE DEPARTMENT has been accused of “potentially sending people to their deaths” after 50 deportation orders were signed last year on Palestinian and Sudanese nationals.

Last year, some 4,700 deportation orders were signed by the Department of Justice.

Some 36 of these were issued to Palestinian nationals, while 14 were issued to Sudanese nationals.

Despite a ceasefire coming into effect in Gaza on 10 October, at least 556 people have been killed in Israeli strikes since then.

The total death toll in Gaza since October 2023 is close to 72,000.

Meanwhile, civil war has raged in Sudan since April 2023, a conflict that has killed tens of thousands, displaced 11 million and caused one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises.

The factions involved are the Sudan Armed Forces (SAF) and the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

Human Rights Watch has said it was possible that the RSF and allied militias were carrying out a genocide in Darfur.

Speaking to The Journal, People Before Profit’s Paul Murphy said: “How can [Justice Minister] Jim O’Callaghan stand over deporting people to Palestine or Sudan?

“There are literally genocides taking place there.

“The Irish State is potentially sending people to their deaths.”

The highest number of deportation orders signed last year were to Georgian nationals, with 911 orders issued.

This was followed by Albania on 542, and Brazil on 472.

Meanwhile, there were 185 enforced deportations last year and 182 deportations by Charter, as well as 1,616 voluntary returns.

Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan has said that deportations are “costly and complex” and that the “preferred option” is for people to voluntarily return if they are not granted international protection in Ireland.

“My Department has a voluntary return programme to assist people to return prior to the issuance of a deportation order,” said O’Callaghan in the Dáil last week in reponse to a parliamentary question on Carol Nolan on deportation orders.

A person can only avail of a voluntary return before a deportation order has been issued.

Where a person becomes the subject of a deportation order, they must leave the State independently or present at the Office of the Garda National Immigration Bureau to make arrangements for their deportation.

The Department of Justice has been approached for comment.