Today, roughly 300 protestors gathered in front of the Department of Justice, in response to the ongoing release of Palestinian “long-stay study visas” decisions. Last week, the University Times broke that this year, 51 students have been refused and 22 have been accepted so far, compared to last year where 144 were granted and 22 were refused. Speaking to the University Times, Séan Radcliffe, Chair of Trinity BDS, claimed more have been revoked since the latest published figures from the 13th of August.
Protesters argue that the Government must put in special arrangements to be made for Palestinian students, because of the increased difficulty in gathering the documents needed for a long-stay study visa, because of the War in Gaza. Such as financial records, academic records and other supporting documents. Additionally, all visa applications are made through the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv.
The protest itself has been backed by many organisations, including the Students Unions’ of TCD, UCD, Maynooth, DCU, RCSI, NCAD, IADT and AMLÉ, the overall Union of Students Ireland. Additionally, it is backed by five opposition parties, Sinn Féin, the Social Democrats, People Before Profit, Labour and the Greens. The protest is also supported and endorsed by numerous domestic pro-palestian organisations.
According to UCD Associate Professor Murieann Ní Raghallaigh, co-chair of UCD’s “Universities of Sanctuary” committee, “almost identical paperwork” for the palestinian students had been submitted this year as last year, but has yielded “a very different outcome”.
This comes after the Department of Justice, the Department responsible for handling visa applications stated, in a statement made to the president of NCAD’s SU President, by the private secretary for Minister for Justice, Jim O’Callaghan. That no “special arrangements for Palestinian nationals” had been made, and no plans were in place to introduce such special arrangements.
