Ceisteanna ar Pholasaí nó ar Reachtaíocht - Questions on Policy or Legislation
Dail Éireann — 2026-09-24
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Simon Harris (FG), Wicklow

I deplore the ongoing genocidal activities that we are seeing in Palestine. I am conscious, in making these comments, that it is the UN General Assembly's high-level week and that the Taoiseach, the Minister for foreign affairs, the Minister of State, Deputy Richmond, the Minister, Deputy O'Brien, the Minister of State, Deputy Dooley, and a number of other representatives of the Government are present at the United Nations. The Taoiseach, the Minister for foreign affairs and others are prioritising engagements on issues relating to Palestine.
On the specific issue regarding visas for Palestinian students, the Department of Justice is working with the Department of foreign affairs to assist Irish citizens and their families who are affected from an immigration perspective. The Department is also continuing to work with the Department of Health on the Gaza medevac programme. We have responded to humanitarian crises before by establishing programmes to allow people in the State to bring relatives here if they can prove that they can independently support them. The Afghan admissions programme was the most recent of these. There is no special arrangement in place for Palestinian students. No one is proposing the establishment of such a scheme, but we continue to support the Palestinian people in many ways.

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Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-09-24/debate/main
Retrieved: 2026-09-28T05:50:50+00:00
Sitting date: 2026-09-24