Sir, – Ann Moroney and Nick Henderson (Letters, September 28th) are right to point out the contradiction between Micheál Martin’s rightly praised, unequivocal condemnation of Israeli brutality in Gaza and the Department of Justice’s refusal to issue visas to Palestinian students.
Explaining the department’s stance, the Department of Justice’s Immigration Service website states that, “In common with the position for all non-EU nationals, entry of Palestinian nationals is undertaken through the existing legal immigration pathway ... There are no special arrangements for Palestinian nationals in place, nor are there any plans to introduce any.”
No special arrangements needed; treated just like Canadians or Australians. Reassuring fairness.
If granted visas, these young Palestinians could return to whatever remains of Gaza, employing their Irish qualifications as engineers, educators and medical workers to help rebuild their communities. Instead, Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan seems wedded to petty objections about incomplete paperwork from financial and academic institutions, few of which, if any, may still exist.
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The Taoiseach told the Assembly: “When the true horrors of Gaza are finally and fully revealed, it will shame the world.”
If his Department of Justice perseveres in its obduracy, this adminisration will not be untainted by that shame.. – Yours, etc,
PADDY MCGOVERN,
Clarence Mangan Rd,
Dublin 8.
