1.1. Contact organisation
[IE6] Department of Justice (Ireland)
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Data and Analytics Unit
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
6/7 Hanover Street East, Dublin 2, D02 W320
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
31 March 2026
2.2. Metadata last posted
31 March 2026
2.3. Metadata last update
31 March 2026
3.1. Data description
Enforcement of immigration legislation data (EIL statistics) contain statistical information based on Article 5 and 7 of the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation (EU) 2020/851 with reference to third-country nationals:
- refused entry at the external border,
- found to be illegally present,
- ordered to leave,
- returned following an order to leave.
3.2. Classification system
See table 3.2. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Migration and asylum – Enforcement of Immigration Legislation statistics
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
See table 3.4. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
3.5. Statistical unit
Number of persons.
3.6. Statistical population
See table 3.6. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
3.7. Reference area
Ireland
3.8. Coverage - Time
See table 3.8. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Number of persons.
Calendar quarter and calendar year.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
The compilation of statistics on enforcement of immigration legislation is based on Article 5 and 7 of Council Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 of 11 July 2007 as amended by Regulation (EU) No 2020/851 of 18 June 2020 which depicts in details the data provisions Member States are bound to supply Eurostat with.
6.2. Institutional Mandate - data sharing
Data shared is aggregate data with no identifying personal details.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
There is no formalised confidentiality policy. However no personal data or data that could lead to the identification of a person is released.
From 25 May 2018 the key legislative frameworks are:
- General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)
- Data Protection Act 2018
- the “Law Enforcement Directive” (Directive (EU) 2016/680) which has been transposed into Irish law by way of the Data Protection Act 2018
- the Data Protection Acts 1988 and 2003
- the 2011 “ePrivacy Regulations” (S.I. No. 336 of 2011 – the European Communities (Electronic Communications Networks and Services) (Privacy And Electronic Communications) Regulations 2011)
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
Cells with less than three cases are suppressed.
8.1. Release calendar
Release calendar not available
8.2. Release calendar access
Data is published on the Government of Ireland Open data website: Department of Justice - Publishers - data.gov.ie
8.3. Release policy - user access
The above website is accessible by the public
Data is updated on the open data website monthly.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
Not available at national level.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Not available at national level.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Data is published on the Government of Ireland Open data website: Department of Justice - Publishers - data.gov.ie
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Not available at national level.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not available at national level.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Procedure manuals and process maps are compiled for each dataset and table. These are for internal use only.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
Not available at national level.
11.1. Quality assurance
Statistics are based entirely on administrative sources.
Procedure manuals and process maps are compiled for each dataset and table.
Before publishing the data, consistent validation checks are performed.
Revisions are carried out as issues are encountered or identified.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data is considered of high quality.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Administrative data is collected for service delivery purposes.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
Not available.
12.3. Completeness
See table 12.3. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Not applicable.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Data is considered highly accurate. Any errors are revised when they are encountered or identified.
13.2. Sampling error
Not applicable.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Not applicable as data is not based on samples.
13.3.1. Coverage error
See table 13.3.1. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
Not applicable.
13.3.2. Measurement error
Not applicable as data is not based on samples.
13.3.3. Non response error
Not applicable.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.3.2. Item non-response - rate
Not applicable.
13.3.4. Processing error
Not applicable as data is not based on samples.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
See below
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
Data published on the Irish government website has a lag of approximately seven days from end of month.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Data is only published once.
14.2. Punctuality
See table 14.2. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Data is submitted to Eurostat by the due data.
Data published on the Irish government website has a lag approximately seven days from end of month.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data is geographically comparable across all of the country.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
See table 15.2. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
Not applicable.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
See table 15.3. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
There can be minor variations between monthly, quarterly and annual data due to backdating, fixing of data entry errors, suppression of low numbers. These are usually caught and rectified.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
There can be minor variations between monthly, quarterly and annual data due to backdating, fixing of data entry errors, suppression of low numbers. These are usually caught and rectified.
As data is collected as part of the service delivery and statistics are based on existing administrative data. There is no extra cost or burden on respondents.
17.1. Data revision - policy
There is currently no formalised revision policy for these statistics. Revisions are done as soon as errors are discovered.
17.2. Data revision - practice
See table 17.2. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Not applicable.
18.1. Source data
See table 18.1. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data is collected daily.
18.3. Data collection
Administrative data which is collected in the process of service delivery.
18.4. Data validation
Internal checks are done by the data and analytics team when compiling the statistics.
Any inconsistencies discovered are relayed the the data entry teams for investigation.
18.5. Data compilation
Not applicable.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not applicable.
18.6. Adjustment
No statistical technique applied.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
No statistical technique applied.
“Has refused to provide biometric data, if required” does not apply to Ireland. The zero figures for this reason are actually NULL.
Enforcement of immigration legislation data (EIL statistics) contain statistical information based on Article 5 and 7 of the Regulation (EC) No 862/2007 as amended by the Regulation (EU) 2020/851 with reference to third-country nationals:
- refused entry at the external border,
- found to be illegally present,
- ordered to leave,
- returned following an order to leave.
31 March 2026
See table 3.4. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
Number of persons.
See table 3.6. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
Ireland
Calendar quarter and calendar year.
Data is considered highly accurate. Any errors are revised when they are encountered or identified.
Number of persons.
Not applicable.
See table 18.1. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
Data is updated on the open data website monthly.
See below
Data is geographically comparable across all of the country.
See table 15.2. in annex ‘EIL Quality reports tables 2025’.
