“FF and FG dismissed every warning, branded critics as extremists, and now the numbers speak for themselves. It is time for border security, fiscal discipline, and putting Ireland first.” Hundreds of asylum applicants paid to leave the state are still here at taxpayer expense-Ken O’Flynn Independent Ireland TD for Cork North-Central Ken O’Flynn has established that 1,188 paid returns have taken place as part of the Voluntary Returns Programme in 2025. However, it has also been confirmed to him by the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O’Callaghan that 346 applicants who have received payments under the Programme remain designated as “uncompleted departures.” The Minister provided the information in response to a series of detailed parliamentary questions. The responses also reveal that €2.78 million in administrative grants have been awarded to the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) for 2024–2026 to operate the Voluntary Return Programme, which has so far incurred €321,010 this year on associated travel costs while €598,753.95 in reintegration grants have been paid in the first eight months of 2025. Deputy O’Flynn added, “Despite this surge in expenditure, no independent audits on the various voluntary return schemes have taken place since 2009, and the Department has further confirmed to me that it has no plans to publish annual reports on the programme’s outcomes. This is outrageous. The Government is firing taxpayers’ money at a programme that is chaotic, incoherent and operating without any kind of meaningful accountability.” “This is what happens when a Government loses control of its borders and its budget,” he said. “We are paying people to come, housing them at public expense, and then paying them again to go home, apparently at their own leisure. The Monster Raving Looney Party that we used to see in the UK would have more coherent Policies.” “The Department’s own figures prove the system is being gamed. 1,700 applications in nine months, millions in grants and administration, and hundreds who never left despite taking the offer. This is not immigration management, t’s open-ended waste. Ireland needs a rules-based, common-sense approach that protects our Borders and our Taxpayers.” Independent Ireland is calling for: An immediate suspension and overhaul of the Voluntary Returns Programme. Proposal for caps on immigration, similar to recent changes to immigration policy implemented by Poland. Full independent audit and annual public reporting of all migration-related expenditure Priority given to Irish citizens’ Housing and Social needs. “Fine Gael and Fianna Fáil have spent years avoiding accountability for this mess,” O’Flynn added. “They dismissed every warning, branded critics as extremists, and now the numbers speak for themselves. It is time for border security, fiscal Discipline, and putting Ireland first.”

Posted by Fred Bassett