Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 24 February 2026
747. Deputy Carol Nolan asked the Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration the number of carriers fined under the increased penalty of €5,000 for failing to ensure proper travel documentation, as enacted in 2024 and 2025; and if he will provide data on enforcement actions taken to deter illegal migration routes; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [14144/26]
Amharc ar fhreagraImplementing effective border security arrangements is a priority for me, and the Programme for Government commits to developing a border security strategy to deliver stronger border security.
An Garda Síochána has responsibility for issuing carrier liability notices and warnings, and for the imposition of carrier liability fines on carriers who permit a non-national to travel with their airline or ferry without the necessary documentation i.e. no documents, false document, no visa or improper use of genuine documents.
The fines payable by carriers in such instances were increased by way of the Courts, Civil Law, Criminal Law and Superannuation (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2024. The effect of these changes is to increase the fines payable by carriers on summary conviction to a maximum of €5,000 from the previous maximum of €3,000. The Act also provides that carriers which make a payment of €2,500 within 28 days will avoid prosecution for an offence under the Act, which was an increase from the previous payment of €1,500; in practice many carriers avail of this option.
A total of 910 fines were issued in 2024 and 768 fines were issued in 2025; the 2025 figures may change arising from any appeals from carriers. I have requested from the Garda Commissioner the number of carriers in respect of which the increased level of fine applied and will provide it to the Deputy on receipt.
The visa requirements to travel to Ireland have been strengthened and remain under review by my Department. Additional resources have also been assigned in the Border Management Unit (BMU) of my Department to facilitate documentation inspections at the point of disembarkation in Dublin Airport. BMU and Garda National Immigration Bureau have an ongoing intelligence-led programme of operations at airplanes to detect passengers who destroyed documents inflight and to identify the point of embarkation of undocumented passengers.
Both 2025 and 2024 saw a reduction of more than 50% in the number of people arriving at Dublin Airport without documentation compared with 2022. 2022 was a peak year with almost 5,000 people refused leave to land in the State on that basis.
