Dear Taoiseach,
Last month, you told the UN that “We, the collective international community, have failed Palestine”, and you called the world to action.
From the streets of Dublin to the highest international levels, Ireland has stood on principle and carried hope to millions of Palestinians.
Ireland has condemned the obliteration of Gaza’s education system and vowed to help.
Just last year, we proudly welcomed 122 Palestinian students to our universities, enabling a new generation to learn and develop at the best colleges, building hope for a better future in Palestine. But right now, this proud record – and our word – is on the line.
Fifty-five fully funded scholarship students from Gaza are being cruelly prevented from taking up their hard-earned places in Irish universities this year.
They are not taking anyone else’s place. They passed rigorous academic checks, secured fully funded scholarships, and passed university vetting. They provided every document available to them in a warzone, and yet the Minister for Justice is refusing to grant them study visas. They are caught in a breakdown of coordination between government departments that they did nothing to cause. They must not be the ones who pay the price.
This is your Government, and therefore your responsibility to avert this failure.
This month, three students’ cases were settled with the Department of Justice. That shows a solution exists. The other 55 deserve the same.
The next evacuation is expected in the coming days. Meanwhile these hard-working students are waiting in precarious, life-threatening conditions in Gaza – in tents, often with bombs falling around them – while their university enrolment deadlines slip away.You have the power to act, to stay true to our principles and promises, and grant these young Palestinians the opportunity of an education far from the rubble of Gaza. An Irish education that we are so proud to stand behind. A chance to build a better future, for themselves, their people and the world.
Resolve their cases as the three were resolved and make sure all 55 are cleared for the next evacuation.
You told the UN: “the situation in Gaza remains an affront to all that is decent.”
Taoiseach, will your government do the decent thing, and let these students study?