⚠️ “My pikin dey fear say na im turn next” – Heartbreaking Flight Back to Nigeria
Key Takeaways:
- Ireland deported 35 Nigerian nationals—including five children—on a chartered flight from Dublin.
- Those removed comprised 21 men, nine women, and the five children, all travelling in family units.
- The flight made an unscheduled stop due to a medical emergency on board.
- It’s the third charter deportation this year; earlier flights removed individuals to Georgia.
- The operation cost taxpayers an estimated €325,000, highlighting the financial and humanitarian stakes.
This is alleged to be a group photograph (minus children) of the 35 Nigeria deportees removed from Dublin on Wed night, and this is the plane they were deported on. No further detail on the "unscheduled stop due to a medical incident on board", can't see a stop on Flightradar pic.twitter.com/HiuIf81Ty7
— nwl (@nwl88444048) June 6, 2025
The Full Story
In a wave of “last-resort” enforcement, Ireland’s Garda National Immigration Bureau and the Department of Justice deported 35 Nigerians—including five children—on June 4, 2025, in a chartered flight from Dublin Airport bound for Lagos.
Justice Minister Jim O’Callaghan reaffirmed the process: voluntary returns were offered first; enforcement only came after refusals. He stated it “sends a clear message” that Ireland’s immigration system operates on legal order.
The emotional toll was immediate. At Dublin’s St James Primary, principal Ciarán Cronin revealed that two of the deported kids were school pupils. Teachers and classmates were “devastated,” with many children asking, “Will I be next?” Cronin likened their fear to mourning: “Their own feeling of self‑worth is just through the floor now.”
This charter marks the third such flight this year, raising deportation totals to 106 by air and 54 via commercial routes. Each flight comes with a high cost—both financial and human.
⚠️ Onboard, a medical emergency caused an unscheduled stop—but every passenger ultimately landed in Lagos.
💬 Social Media Pulse
@IrishWatchdog: “Kids involved? This is tough. Deportation isn’t just stats.”
@EducationMatters: “School trauma real—must review policy.”
@NaijaInDiaspora: “Family units torn apart. Emotional cost too high.”
@LegalEagleIE: “Voluntary return first—but what support after return?”
@HumanityFirstIE: “€325k taxpayer money could support integration, not just removal.”
This deportation highlights the tension between enforcing breaking political news Nigeria and the human consequences of breaking headlines Nigeria. While Ireland labels it a “rules‑based” enforcement, the images of frightened schoolchildren returning home leave a deeper mark. Real-time deportation operations are expensive, bureaucratic, and emotionally charged—prompting urgent questions about current news Nigeria, breaking security news Nigeria, and its ripple effect across international news Nigeria.
Original Story by Ellen O’Riordan, The Irish Times; Diarmuid Pepper, TheJournal.ie; Agency Reports, Guardian Nigeria
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