THE deportation of a single asylum-seeker cost more than €35,000, the Department of Justice has confirmed.

Numerous attempts had been made by gardaí to deport the Georgian national but it proved impossible to take him on a scheduled flight after he violently threatened gardaí who were escorting him.

Gardaí said that he had been repeatedly abusive and dangerous and that taking him on a normal aircraft would prove impossible, they believed.

The man was one of 193 asylum-seekers removed from the state in the first nine months of last year at a total cost of €520,925.

The average cost of deporting failed asylum-seekers is now in the region of €2,700 although that does not include the cost of garda overtime and subsistence.

According to the Department of Justice, a total of €927,091 was spent on deportations in 2008, primarily to Africa and eastern Europe.

The deportation of the Georgian man was not the most expensive of recent times – the removal of a Ghanaian asylum-seeker cost €151,900.

Gardaí said the convicted criminal had been flown back to Africa on board a specially chartered private airplane.

The Department of Justice said: "In both cases, attempts to remove the men by scheduled flight were unsuccessful due to their violent reactions to their deportation. For safety reasons, they were subsequently removed by charter flights."

Gardaí said it was particularly important that abusive and violent asylum-seekers be deported because it could set an example.

One garda said: "If a person kicks up a fuss every time we get them on board an airplane and we back down, then a lot more of them would start doing it. The type of person who threatens to blow up an aircraft or try to kill gardaí or other passengers is not exactly welcome here anyway."

During the past five years, a total of €7.3m has been spent removing asylum seekers from the state on flights back to their home states.

Gardaí said that while the average cost of a single deportation was less than €3,000, the actual costs tended to be much higher.

One officer said: "You have significant expense involved in finding them, detaining them while awaiting the flight and then the costs of sending gardaí abroad in terms of their overtime and subsistence allowances."