Sir, – There is such deep irony in the High Court’s overturning of the decision to deny a visa to the 20-year-old Shaymaa Abudalu, a Palestinian student who has been accepted by UCC to study engineering on a fully funded scholarship.
There were “significant and demonstrable errors” in the refusal by Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan’s department, including the Minister’s wrong assertion that the applicant had not provided certain documentation. Furthermore, certification regarding her proficiency in the English language had not been considered.
The court was told that many of Abudalu’s immediate family members, including her mother and siblings, were killed in an Israeli air strike in March 2024. One can only admire the tenacity and courage of the then 18-year-old in seeking to pursue her education, despite such trauma.
Gazan students have multiple pressures in providing correct documentation, including the destruction of their universities, banks and homes, and in many cases the violent killing of their families and friends.
READ MORE
O’Callaghan has made much of the importance of correct paperwork and procedures. One wonders what reasons his Department of Justice, with their resources, can offer for sloppy, incomplete paperwork, affecting the lives of these young people. – Yours, etc,
PADDY MCGOVERN,
Dublin 8.
