Vol. 491 No. 3
439 Mr. Aylward asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason a person (details supplied) was refused entry to this country on 23 April 1998 when a holiday visa was granted to him on 20 March 1998 and when evidence was available that he was to be a guest in the home of his fiancée and would not have been a burden of the State. [12249/98]
Although a visa is a form of pre-entry clearance, possession of a visa does not guarantee entry to the State. Immigration officers, who are members of An Garda Síochána, are responsible for controls at the principal ports of entry and have authority to deny admission on the grounds set out in Article 5 (2) of the Aliens Order, 1946, as inserted by Article 3 of The Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1975. It is not my normal practice to comment on individual cases of refusal and I do not propose to depart from that practice on this occasion.
