First, I want to congratulate the Minister for Justice on his appointment. Without prejudice to our right to carry out faction fights in Mayo we are sincerely delighted that a very prestigious Cabinet post has been restored to the county and we wish him well in his very onerous portfolio.
Tara Jawad and her sister, Evian, were both born in Baghdad. Their father is a former lawyer, now working for the United Arab Emirates. Their mother is a Turkish born doctor working in Iraq. The two girls came to Ireland on 23 May 1991 on foot of visitors' visas. On 12 July 1991 the girls went to the Aliens Registration Office of the Department of Justice to renew their visas. Their passports and documentation were taken from them and not returned. Tara commenced studying for her leaving certificate examination at the Institute of Education, Leeson Street, Dublin. Evian is a qualified doctor and was accepted by the Medical Council for post-graduate study and by Beaumont Hospital.
In October 1991 both girls applied for student visas. They were not given any definite indication as to the likely verdict on this application. They heard nothing about their applications until, approximately, 8 p.m. on Thursday last, 20 February, when a gentleman from the Department of Justice knocked on the girls' door, handed them back their passports and gave them one week to leave the country.
I accept that there have to be rules, regulations and guidelines for the right of entry to and residence in this country, but I must also beg to make the point that there have to be occasions when a little tolerance, understanding and common sense are called for. Both girls are studying here. Neither is a burden on the State. Tara pays her full fees for the leaving certificate course she is undertaking. Evian is looking for unpaid post-graduate work and is maintained, again, by her parents.
For a country whose citizens are scattered to the four corners of the world, often dependent on the goodwill of other nationalities, we sometimes have an extremely intolerant approach to accommodating aliens here. Indeed, when one considers the fact that we have an unquantified but nevertheless estimated figure of between 50,000 and 100,000 young Irish people who are illegal aliens in the United States alone, living in fear of detection and deportation, we can indulge in a fair amount of halo adjusting when it comes to any kind of flexibility towards those seeking even temporary, non-burdensome residence here. For a Government which lobbies, using high powered official delegations, for new visa rounds and green cards for our own young people abroad, with the expectation that we are entitled to special and exceptional treatment, we can be remarkably cold, arid and bureaucratic when it comes to using a little common sense and give and take when dealing with others. We expect total appreciation of the plight of our emigrants who find themselves in various difficulties, yet we sometimes refuse to relent one inch when it comes to displaying a like courtesy, let alone a whit of diplomatic nicety, not to mention compassion.
There is no need for me to spell out to the Minister the difficulties being experienced in the two girls' home country.
In brief, the girls are students. They are not a burden on the State. They are extremely law abiding. They are both studying here, one for the leaving certificate examination and the other is doing post-graduate work. Another sister, Tanya, has a student visa and is a third year medical student. I ask the Minister to give student visas to the other two sisters to enable them to continue their studies and to live together.
The family awaits the Minister's reply.
