Young Gaza student on way to UCC after successfully appealing visa refusal

A scholarship student bound for University College Cork is one of three young Gazans granted leave to come to Ireland following successful appeals against earlier refusals.

An appeal by a fourth student from Gaza was refused.

Decisions on the appeals were delivered on Friday evening following an agreement reached on Wednesday between justice minister Jim O’Callaghan and lawyers for the four students.

The High Court had been due to hear the students’ judicial review challenges against the refusal of visas to allow them to pursue fully-funded scholarships at Irish universities.

However, Mr Justice Anthony Barr was told the cases had been settled following an offer by Mr O’Callaghan to determine the students’ appeals.

The appeals process around student visa refusals normally takes a year or more, but with their courses already underway, the students had sought an order requiring the minister to prioritise the hearing of their appeals.

Among the reasons cited for refusal of their visas was that they had submitted insufficient documentation of past education or work qualifications.

The students’ lawyers argued that the civilian infrastructure for them to go to a bank or post office to get such documents no longer exists in Gaza.

One of those granted a visa on appeal is a young psychology student who will study for a master’s degree in psychology at UCC.

Douglas-based solicitor Susan Doyle, who represented the student, said Mr O’Callaghan had previously stated on the record that visa appeals could not be prioritised.

“We have now seen that they can be,” she said. 

"There are dozens of other students awaiting appeal decisions, and this news will give them some hope that they may still be able to travel to Ireland to take up their courses.

“It would be so much more humane if the minister would just agree to prioritise these cases rather than making them go through the court process.” 

On Wednesday, in a separate High Court hearing, Mr Justice Garret Simons granted permission for the hearing of dozens of judicial review applications this week, saying it was “literally a matter of life and death”.