Seven students headed to four Irish universities, including Trinity, UCD, Mary Immaculate College, and Atlantic Technological University, were picked up from Dublin Airport today by a higher education sectoral network, which included Trinity’s outgoing Vice President for Global Engagement, Emma Stokes.
Stokes spoke to the University Times following the pickup, and said she felt “excited” for the students headed to Irish universities, both from Gaza and in Ireland, but said, “it’s only seven…out of a much larger number of students who have scholarships and had their visas rejected.”
This year, the government refused visas to students from Gaza and Palestine at an unprecedented rate. The Department of Justice confirmed to the University Times today that of the 130 long-stay student visa applications they’d received from Palestinian nationals, 39 had been granted, with 103 refused. This compares to last year, when 122 were accepted, and 22 were refused.
Reflecting on the year-over-year change, Stokes said “Simon Harris was on the airway celebrating how his department had been very involved in the evacuation, how we’re welcoming [Gazan students] to higher education institutions in Ireland. And now we have silence.” Last year, roughly 52 students from Gaza were welcomed to Ireland.
Stokes also mentioned Minister for Further and Higher Education, James Lawless, continually referring to the problem as “for the Department of Justice”. She also noted that the fact that these students are being treated the same as other students from non-EU countries, “Notwithstanding the fact that they come from Gaza, where institutions have been destroyed, and universities have been destroyed”.
When asked at a press conference today what he was doing for the students in Gaza, Lawless said that while visa granting “is a justice issue”, his “officials and team are engaging in great intensity with the Department of Justice to see we can bring [their visa processes] forward somehow”
Stokes, speaking to the University Times, said it was part of “Ireland’s commitment” to make it easier for students from Gaza to enter the country. She also added that most of the accepted students had scholarships from the government, whereas students who had scholarships from colleges, even if they were “better in terms of financial resources”, were being rejected.
Stokes added, “These students aren’t taking other students’ places…they are academically exceptional”. “We did this for Ukraine, we did this last year for Gaza. We can do this better, and we should do it better.”
Stokes also called the problem “solvable”, mentioning the large “sectoral network” and willingness from higher education institutions.
She finished, “It’s seven, which is only seven, but it’s better than none.”
