New figures on asylum seekers show the State has lost track of thousands of foreign nationals due to be deported.

The 6,067 people had all been denied asylum over the last 16 years.

They had agreed to voluntarily leave the country before their deportation orders were executed by the Gardaí, but no one checked to make sure they had left as promised.

The data obtained by The Irish Times also reveals that more than 16,000 deportation orders were signed between 1999 and 2015.

It is impossible to know how many failed asylum seekers remain in Ireland, but those who did leave are likely to have gone to the UK.