700 visas have been granted to Palestinian nationals since the outbreak of the war, Taoiseach Micheál Martin has told the Dáil. The admission was made during Taoiseach’s questions, during which Mr Martin addressed the continued fallout from the GAA Palestine visa controversy.
Mr Martin also claimed that no appeal had been made by the group, a week on from the Government’s decision not to grant visas for a group of Palestinians, 33 of whom are children, who were due to come to Ireland for a GAA tour on Friday.
In a heated exchange on Tuesday afternoon, before the House breaks for the summer, Mr Martin denied that the Government was “anti” Palestine, after TDs raised the GAA Palestine controversy.
Pointing to comments made by Deputy Paul Murphy, Mr Martin said: “I’m perplexed about this – and I’m slightly worried that there’s a campaign underway as well to try and blame the Government and create this narrative, as Deputy Murphy did, that the Government is anti-Palestinian, or not facilitating Palestinians coming to Ireland
“I mean, the bottom line is, 700 Palestinian visas have been granted to Palestinian nationals since the outbreak of the war. 700 – there’s no delay in terms of medical evacuations whatsoever.”
He also claimed that a “false narrative” had developed in relation to the medical evacuation of children from Palestine.
“I don’t know where that’s coming from, or why people would even want to create that false narrative […] to undermine the Government.”
“Let’s do it properly through the proper channels because these are serious matters. Children with serious injuries – we’ve got to make sure that the parents are on-board, that the family unification is there. We’ve done that already with, I think, about 45 adults and 12 children.”
“We’re very clear that there will be family reunification. So let’s not just go in and say, ‘Oh, Government is anti-this and anti-that, it’s not. In terms of the GAA Palestine, this has come out of left field, to be frank.”
“Why wasn’t there proper negotiations well in advance, or engagement with government parties, before any visas were applied for? […] It’s an important point. You can’t have a group forming in any locality, and saying, ignore all your normal, regulatory procedures for visa applications. That’s not possible. You have to get the documentation right. We have to know who’s coming in with the children […] most of the children would not have been travelling with a parent.”
‘PERPLEXING’
Mr Martin also said that no appeal had been entered by the group, even though a week had passed since the original decision. He also said he was not sure if GAA Palestine was affiliated with the GAA or not.
“For some reason, over the last four or five days, no appeal was entered at all,” the Taoiseach said, adding it was “the basic thing that should have happened, an appeal should have been entered.”
Regarding claims over the meeting with the Department of Justice, the Fianna Fáil leader said: “You don’t just rock up to the Department of Justice ad hoc and say, ‘Minister, come down here.’ He mightn’t have even been in the building.”
“I just find the whole thing perplexing,” the Taoiseach said. Normally, what would happen is a sporting organisation would come to the Government and say, “We want to organise, well in advance. I don’t know who’s behind the whole thing. Who’s campaign is it, what is going on?”
““I don’t know whether GAA Palestine is affiliated with the GAA or not […] I don’t know who is behind the whole thing,” Mr Martin said, referring to the group. “It’s going to be more about the campaign than the children. I hate saying that,” he added.
“All of it suggests something not right […] The whole thing seems haphazardly organised, is all I can say. It’s strange how the whole thing has developed in this manner. We’re talking about children here – I think there should be a greater sense of organisation behind this.”
Today, GAA Palestine said time was running out of time for its campaign, as it urged people to call or email the Department of Justice.
“We have just 24 hours left to make the dreams of 33 young GAA players hoping to arrive in Ireland on 18th July come true,” it said.
An online petition addressed to Jim O’Callaghan, Minister for Justice, and Tánaiste and Minister for foreign affairs, Simon Harris, now has almost 30,000 signatures.