Student Visas
Seanad Éireann — 2026-09-22
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Colm Brophy (FG), Dublin South-West

Unfortunately, I have to begin by saying what the Senator has heard me say quite a few times. I cannot directly address an individual case. It is unfair to a person who is an applicant. It is unfair to ever engage in that type of scenario. We have to have a rules-based system. I know that can sometimes cause people to ask why and why we are doing that, but there has to be an understanding that there is fairness, clarity and a process in place. It is so that if people can go through that process to qualify that they get it and it is not a response to protest, loud voices or the media, but they are getting their visa having followed a due process.
That said, I want to put on record that I would love to see a better system in place when it comes to dealing with this. I would love to see co-ordination between the sectors, and between my Department and the Department of foreign affairs, to look at how we can build out an approach to dealing with this so this type of event does not happen next year or the year after, whether it involves Gaza or any other part of the world. It behoves us all to try to work towards generating that type of solution. We have a rules-based system but I would certainly like to see us working with others to develop a system that helps us deal with this, so we are not back here again in 12 months' time.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/seanad/2026-09-22/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:49+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-22