Minister for Justice Helen McEntee has stated that there are no plans to introduce a ‘bespoke’ asylum scheme to specifically cater for Palestinians who may wish to seek refuge here.
The Minister was responding to a parliamentary question from Green Party TD, Patrick Costello who asked what bespoke scheme, if any, exists for Palestinians fleeing the conflict in Gaza to come to Ireland.
The minister stated that she was aware of the grave humanitarian crisis in Gaza and that her Department is working closely with the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to ensure “a coordinated national response to this volatile and evolving situation.”
However, she stopped short of extending the current arrangements beyond a commitment to work to process such visa or asylum applications as quickly as possible.
Minister McEntee went on to note that her Department remains open to providing ongoing assistance to evacuate Irish citizens and their families who may require visa assistance, and that where visa applicants are missing important information, such as proof of identity and familial relationships, “there is active engagement with the applicants to gather the required documents to ensure that the Visa Division of my Department have everything needed progress these applications.”
It was recently reported that fewer than 70 Palestinians have applied for and been granted international protection in Ireland since the start of the war in Gaza last October.
The report also highlighted a comment from the Department of Justice to the effect that 75 of the applications last year were made before the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, while 67 people of Palestinian origin have sought international protection in Ireland since then.
Data within the report confirms that from 2013 to 2022, a total of 37,000 Palestinians applied for protection in the EU with those numbers increasing on a yearly basis.