A civil servant is assisting gardái who are investigating corruption with residence visas for foreign nationals attending English-language schools in Ireland, writes Marie O'Halloran.
The Garda investigation, which began 12 months ago, is concentrated on the activities of unregistered language schools.
The official, a temporary clerical officer for the past three years in the Aliens Registration Office at the Department of Justice in Harcourt Street, was assisting senior gardaí yesterday in connection with the investigation into the acceptance of false school attendance certificates.
Students from non-European Economic Area countries who wish to renew their visas must have a certificate showing at least an 80 per cent attendance record.
The official has worked at the office for the past three years.
Up to five schools are part of an "in-depth investigation" by gardaí, including one institution which closed in December with some 250 students on its register. The language school, aimed at Chinese students, was located in two classrooms in a city-centre primary school, and when students returned in January there were no classes, no computers and no teachers. The administrator of the school, a Chinese woman operating under the alias of Vivienne, has gone missing. A former student claimed she had returned to China.
Students who spoke to The Irish Times claimed the woman offered to renew residence permits for students for a sliding-scale fee from €635 up to €1,270.
She brought them to the Aliens Registration Office, where they could skip the queues. One student claimed up to 30 students from the school had their visas renewed in this way. As part of the investigation gardaí are also "monitoring" a large number of other schools. In some they have found "a huge amount of students but small accommodation".
One school was estimated to have 2,000 students but only two classrooms. Under the guidelines of registered schools classes should have a maximum of 15 students.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has declined to comment, saying it is a matter for the Department of Justice. The Minister for Justice, Mr O'Donoghue, also declined to comment. A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice said: "This is the subject of a Garda investigation, and it would be inappropriate to comment".
The two Departments, with representative associations connected to language schools, are preparing a number of initiatives to pre-empt abuses, including turning "loose guidelines" into stringent regulations.
There is no mandatory licensing system for language schools, which can set up without supervision. Some 110 are recognised by ACELS (Academic Council for English Language Schools) which has overall authority for language schools in Ireland. It sent inspectors to the city-centre school that subsequently closed, and found no students in attendance. Language schools are concerned about abuses and fear the Government could stop issuing visas - as happened in Australia when too many students stayed on permanently.