Overview
- The Department of Justice and An Garda Síochána removed 34 men — 22 Polish and 12 Lithuanian nationals — deporting them on a chartered flight after criminal convictions in Ireland.
- Twenty-five of the men were taken directly from Irish Prison Service custody and nine were arrested and detained from communities before being placed on the flight.
- The deportation on Sunday, May 24, 2026, routed from Dublin to Warsaw and then Vilnius and included Garda escorts, medical staff, interpreters and a human‑rights observer on board.
- Exclusion or re‑entry bans of up to 10 years were imposed to prevent return and the government says this action is part of stepped‑up enforcement that has seen 88 removals under the EU Free Movement Directive so far in 2026 compared with 56 in 2025.
- Officials framed the operation as enforcing public‑security exceptions in the Free Movement Directive, a move that affects the individuals and their families and signals continuing coordinated operations by GNIB, the Irish Prison Service and the Department of Justice.