'Serious concerns’ over integrity of process that led to refusal of Palestinian student visas

Students at the UCC Boole Library. Phoenix Law partner Sinéad Marmion's warning comes after the High Court found 'significant and demonstrable errors' in the refusal of a visa to Shaymaa Abudalu who had a fully-funded scholarship to study engineering at UCC. Picture: Dan Linehan

Lawyers representing Palestinian students who were denied Irish study visas have raised serious concerns around the integrity of the processing of applications.

It comes after the High Court this week found there had been “significant and demonstrable errors” in the refusal of a study visa to a 20-year-old Gazan student.

Shaymaa Abudalu was awarded a fully-funded scholarship to study engineering at University College Cork (UCC) but was denied a visa in July on various grounds.

Palestinian students' visa refusals challenged 

Ms Abudalu’s challenge to the refusal is the lead case in a tranche of 39 similar lawsuits which are being taken by other Palestinian students denied visas.

At the High Court on Tuesday, Mr Justice Anthony Barr held there were “significant and demonstrable errors” in the decision to refuse Ms Abudalu a visa and ordered that the student’s visa application be remitted and considered afresh.

Noting the urgency of the case, the judge directed that the application be determined within 10 working days.

Sinéad Marmion, a partner in Phoenix Law, told the Irish Examiner that the case had raised what she said were “very serious concerns” about the integrity of the Department of Justice’s processing of Palestinian study visa applications.

Four days before the hearing, the Department of Justice served an affidavit stating that Ms Abudalu had not submitted all necessary documentation relating to her finances when making her visa application.

Phoenix Law obtained UCC email

On the eve of the hearing, Phoenix Law independently obtained the original UCC email containing Ms Abudalu’s visa application and attached supporting documentation, Ms Marmion said. 

That mail had been sent to the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv, which had, until last year, processed study visa applications from Gaza.

Ms Marmion said: “During the hearing, the Department of Justice said that Shaymaa had not submitted everything. They put in evidence on sworn affidavit that she hadn’t.

“It was only when sent the originating email from UCC of the full application to the embassy in Tel Aviv — run by the Department of Foreign Affairs — that the Department of Justice admitted that they had received the application and supporting documents into the embassy but had not sent that documentation on to the decision-makers in Dublin in the Department of Justice.”

Ms Marmion said this error had only come to light because Ms Abudalu’s legal team had been able to get hold of the originating email. She said: 

This raises very serious concerns about the integrity of the department’s processing of student visa applications.

“Questions need to be asked of the Department of Justice as to whether processing of applications changed this year, whether the error in Ms Abudalu’s case was a one-off, and whether there can be confidence that full care was taken in the handling of all applications.”

The Department of Justice said it does not comment on individual cases.