A number of prominent Irish figures from film, television and music, including Kneecap, Hozier, Aisling Bea, Siobhán McSweeney and Christy Moore, have urged Taoiseach Micheal Martin to intervene on behalf of 55 Gazan students who have been refused study visas.
The appeal comes amid ongoing legal challenges to the visa refusals, with a High Court hearing examining the government's handling of applications from Palestinian students who secured fully funded scholarships at Irish universities.
In an open letter published by the Irish Examiner on Friday, the artists joined other signatories in urging Martin to “do the decent thing” by the students.
The letter cited Martin’s remarks to the United Nations last month, when he said the international community had failed Palestine, and called on him to intervene on the students’ behalf.
“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,” the signatories said.
They added that the students were not taking places away from anyone else and had undergone rigorous 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 co-ordination between Government departments that they did nothing to cause.”
The open letter follows similar appeals earlier this month from academics and the Ireland-Palestine Alliance Sadaka, who urged Martin, also Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, to intervene to resolve what they described as an “appalling injustice”.
They called for the applications of all affected students to be reconsidered properly and in time for the students to be evacuated from Gaza.
High Court challenges visa refusals
The continuing appeals come as legal proceedings challenge the Irish government's refusal of study visas to Palestinian students from Gaza.
During a High Court hearing on Tuesday, lawyers representing the students argued that the decisions were unlawful and irrational, highlighting the difficulties applicants faced in obtaining documentation amid the destruction caused by Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
The government argued that the refusals were based on applicants’ inability to provide documentary evidence required for the visas.
The case centred on Shaymaa Abudalu, a survivor of the Gaza genocide who reportedly lost several family members, including her mother and siblings.
She had secured a fully funded place on a four-year engineering degree programme at University College Cork (UCC), but was refused a visa.
During the hearing, the court heard that documents confirming Abudalu’s English-language proficiency had been received by the Department of Justice but had not been considered by the official who rejected her application.
Judge Anthony Barr described this as a “substantial hole” in the government’s case.
However, the proceedings were ongoing, and the court had not yet issued a final ruling that the visa refusal was unlawful or ordered it to be set aside.
Following the hearing, Abudalu’s lawyer, Sarah Jane Hillery, said she hoped the case would clarify the issues affecting all the students.
The Irish Examiner reported that the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv processed Palestinian study visa applications last year, rejecting 13 per cent of them.
This year, the Department of Justice has reportedly refused 114 of 138 applications- a rejection rate of 83 per cent- including 55 applications from students in the Gaza Strip.