The deadline for the approval of Palestinian visas to study at Irish universities has come and gone. On Wednesday evening, the night before the September 17th deadline, Trinity students Amy Kennedy, Ava Tuohy, Éabha Keyes, Síofra Corrigan, and Seán Radcliffe chained themselves to a railing outside the Irish Department of Justice and stayed there overnight. As the morning came, the Department of Justice had not budged. This moment is disheartening, and it is important to not let this issue fade into the back of our minds.
It would be tempting to hope there is something more to be done, but the college term has started, and 103 out of the 130 Palestinian study visa applications have been denied. Reasons have been cited by the Department of Justice as a lack of financial documentation, gaps in employment and education, and an inability to provide access to a high amount of funds.
All of these reasons are directly related to life in a war zone: because of the destruction of infrastructure and therefore of much documentation, certain requirements are impossible to meet for Palestinian applicants. By November 2025, approximately 97 per cent of Gaza’s educational infrastructure was damaged, according to the UN, which creates gaps in educational experience. To provide proof of funds, applicants are required to provide six months of bank statements, but obtaining both physical and digital copies from a bank that has been decimated has proved an issue. Submitting appeals must be done through post, but the postal system in the Gaza Strip is currently nonfunctional.
20-year-old Halfez Alraysses was able to submit an appeal and was due to begin his fully-funded scholarship course in engineering at Trinity College Dublin last week, but his visa was refused in July. As he worked his way through the bureaucracy of the visa appeal process, the deadline for registration and visa approval has passed.
24-year-old Mahmoud searched abroad for his master’s after graduating top of his class from Gaza University, and received a scholarship from the University of Limerick in Ireland. But the Irish government refused his visa, and the school year begins without him. This is not just a missed academic term, but a lifeline denied by the Irish government. Whether it be an outright refusal from the Department of Justice or relegating students to the endless appeal process, another injustice has been committed against the Palestinian people by the Irish government.
It is disheartening to see the Department of Justice commit such a failure while posturing Ireland as one of the most vocal pro-Palestine states in Europe. Possibly, there is a feeling that the height of the conflict has ended and that the government does not have to attend to these issues with as much care anymore. But it is important to emphasise that the only difference is that strikes have been occurring less often because there is nowhere to strike. For a levelled Gaza, one of the prime ways other countries can help is by providing Gazans a future. It is not enough for pro-Palestinian sentiment to be shown on stickers and kafirs, there needs to be effort to rehabilitate the levelled Gaza and further the cause that led to its annihilation.
What, if anything, can be done now? Appeal processes are still ongoing, with reports saying they take an average of 11 months, so there is a hypothetical in which these students could start in the spring semester or in the following year. However, since many of the reasons for visa refusals are not ones that can be remedied, there is not much hope there. The next expected evacuation for Gazan students with scholarships will begin on September 28th and end on October 5th. After that, Jewish holidays begin, and student evacuation will stop.
Despite backlash from universities, their professors and students, as well as the Ireland Association of Universities, the Department of Justice still is not waiving the visas, despite their inability to meet the requirements being a consequence of the genocide. It is important to maintain awareness of this issue, because it lies in the hands of the Irish government to stick to its promises of Palestinian aid by helping them escape a war zone and be taken in based on their academic merit, just as any other student would be. For Halfez Alrayesses and for Mahmoud, who could’ve been sitting next to you in a lecture right now, it is important to maintain academic institutions not only as places of progress, but as places where academic merit provides ladders out of hardship.
