I welcome Minister O'Dea to the House for the first time while I was speaking. I am familiar with the Minister because I see him featured regularly in the Limerick Leader which I buy because my father is a Limerick man. This has nothing to do with what I will talk about but it is good to see him in the flesh in the Seanad.
An application for a visa has been made on behalf of the family of a Romanian chemical engineer working in this country. This engineer works for an Irish chemical company whose product is sold on the Irish market. This engineer is exceptionally gifted and his work plays a key role in the successful functioning of the company.
The company are concerned that this Romanian engineer should be as happy as possible while working in this country and are concerned at failure to grant a visa to admit his wife and son temporarily to the country. They contend that the decision will have an adverse effect on him and indirectly on the company. This engineer plays a central role in the research and development side of the company. They are at present in the process of developing new products which they hope to put on the Irish market as substitutes for some imported products.
The engineer's wife and son live in Romania and the son attends school there. The summer holiday period is the only worth-while opportunity for the family to get together and function as a family. Last summer an application for a holiday visa was made and although there were some difficulties with the granting of the visa those difficulties were overcome and the family were reunited in Ireland.
This year's refusal has created great hardship, worry and concern for the Romanian engineer and for his family in Romania. It is also a matter of concern for the company he works for who are worried that he may decide that he has had enough of Ireland and seek employment elsewhere. His permit to work here is still functional; it is due to expire sometime next year so his reason for being here at present is bona fide. The only opportunity for the family to get together is during the Romanian school holidays which are similar in length to Irish school holidays.
The case is urgent at present because there appears to be some other formalities or procedures which have to be gone through to allow the process to be fully effective, even after the visa has been granted from this country. My reasons for advancing this case are essentially humanitarian. This family want to be reunited; permission was granted last year and no problems arose from that. Therefore, I cannot see why there should be any difficulties this year. The engineer in question plays an important rôle in a relatively small Irish company which is successful and expanding. The country is fortunate to have the services of a talented engineer for whom we did not as a nation, pay enormous amounts of money to educate as in the case of our own engineers. In many ways this is a reverse case of Irish graduates emigrating.
For all these reasons I ask the Minister to review the decision to reject the visa application, particularly in the context of concerns for the family and the welfare of the company where this engineer plays a central role.
