An illegal immigrant is at large after escaping deportation for a second time, following a bizarre mix up which saw him travel over 3,000 miles to west Africa and back again in the company of gardaí.
An error in establishing the man's country of origin led to him being deported to the wrong country, returned to Ireland and then released from custody.
An investigation into how the man ended up in the wrong country accompanied by three gardaí has been instigated by the force. Labour Party Justice Spokesperson, Mr Joe Costello, today the episode as "worthy of the Keystone Cops".
The man, thought to be Liberian, had already absconded from the State when due for deportation earlier this year. He was later arrested in Britain and returned to the Republic because that was his point of entry into the EU.
The Garda say the man was originally interviewed by Nigerian embassy officials who said the man was not from their country but probably from Ghana. The Ghanaian authorities, when contacted, arranged travel papers for him.
However, when he arrived in the Ghanian capital of Accra the deportee said he was not from Ghana and is understood to have claimed to be Liberian.
He was then taken back to Ireland and held at the training unit in Mountjoy jail, Dublin, from where he was released.
Mr Costello today condemned the botched operation saying the news was "extremely embarrassing for the Garda and worrying for public confidence in their ability to do their job properly ... A full and frank explanation from senior officers must be immediately forthcoming," he said.
"Clearly the priority was to get the man off Irish soil as soon as possible, rather than spend time trying to find-out his true nationality and country of residence. Our asylum procedure cannot place expediency over thorough investigations into people's origins and backgrounds," Mr Costello added.
The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform say the mistake is an operational matter for the Garda National Immigration Bureau.