Foreign-nationals applying for residency in the west of Ireland have become embroiled in an inter-departmental row over documentation approval.
The Immigrant Council of Ireland has expressed concern over the dispute involving Health Service Executive staff and its impact on applicants for residency by foreign-national parents of Irish-born children.
Community welfare officers (CWOs) working in the western area division of the new HSE have said they could not sign documentation required under the new residency system announced by the Minister for Justice before Christmas.
Parents are having difficulties also in obtaining passports from their home states and one embassy is reported to be charging €400 for replacement passports.
"This appears to be one arm of the State not working with the other," said Ms Catherine Cosgrave, legal officer of the Immigrant Council of Ireland. "The decision to introduce this procedure, which would regularise the situation of parents caught in this situation, has been long awaited, and it is very welcome. Most people want to comply with the procedure and it is disappointing that bureaucratic delays are causing hardship."
She has called on the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform, Mr McDowell, to intervene.
Up to 17,000 parents could be eligible to apply for residency under the new system, which applies to any foreign-national parents of Irish children born before January 1st, 2005.
The documentation required by applicants includes a passport or national identity card, the original birth certificate of the Irish-born child, passport photos, evidence of continuous residency and a letter from a CWO in relation to social welfare payments.
The ICI was informed this week that CWOs in Galway were refusing to furnish the required letters in relation to social welfare payments. It also has anecdotal evidence of similar difficulties in Ennis, Co Clare, in Cork and elsewhere.
A letter issued by CWOs in Galway stated that the community welfare service could not provide the information required until it had obtained "clarification" on how it should be provided. "When it is in a position to do so, a notice will be put in local newspapers inviting applications to have payments certified," the letter, signed by four CWO superintendents, states.
A spokeswoman for the western area division of the HSE said yesterday that CWOs had never refused to sign the required documentation. Western area managers had been informed at "short notice" of the new procedure, the spokeswoman added.
