My Adjournment matter relates to the international English language teaching sector. I requested the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform to outline the way in which he will provide for a more efficient and easier visa system for students wishing to choose Ireland as a base for studying the English language. This is deemed essential in view of the loss of serious revenues to the Irish economy when compared with the UK, Australia and New Zealand in this sector. Ireland earns €500 million per year in revenue from this sector while Australia earns €6 billion, New Zealand, €4 billion and our nearest neighbour, the UK, €12 billion. The main reason for this loss of revenue to Ireland is due to the visa system overseen by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. It is inflexible, cumbersome and does not address the industry's needs.
With the current visa system a negative image of Ireland is being projected by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. While the Departments of Enterprise, Trade and Employment, Foreign Affairs, and Education and Science seek to invite international students to Ireland, the perception among the English language teaching sector is that coming to Ireland to study is too difficult and students, as a result, do not bother applying. To outline some of the facts, we refuse almost 38% of applicants from China whereas the UK refuses just 7%. For Turkey, a country with a population of 80 million, many of whom wish to study English, we refuse 46% of applicants whereas the UK refuses just 11%. For Taiwan, we refuse 30% of applicants whereas the UK refuses just 1%. For Vietnam, while we are dying to adopt their babies, we refuse 58% of applicants for foreign language studies whereas the UK refuses just 15%. The visa system needs to be examined urgently.
The second problem is processing times. The UK, Australia and New Zealand commit to giving decisions within particular timeframes and produce figures to prove it which are accessible on the Internet. The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform provides no such figures. Anecdotally, visas can take between four weeks and 14 months. The Minister of State should reflect on this point. A student may be in a hurry to apply to learn English but if it could take up to 14 months, the student would miss the whole study year. In Ireland, the processing times vary so much that it is frequently impossible to explain to clients how there can be such a variation.
The third problem is the lack of co-operation with the English language training and education sector. For the past year, a review of student immigration procedures has been conducted by the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform. There has been absolutely no consultation of any kind with English language training schools or with the education sector regarding this review. How can a beneficial system be implemented if the major stakeholders are ignored?
With regard to how this problem could be fixed, other countries such as the UK, Australia and New Zealand have a co-ordinated and consistent policy which has been led by politicians, not officials. We rely too much on our permanent Civil Service. In the UK, the Prime Minister's initiative forced the visa officials to co-operate with other government departments. The Australian Government made a decision in the late 1980s to market Australia as an international education destination, with fantastic results. Visa officials in those countries are in regular contact with the educational sector to smooth and streamline the service.
In Ireland, there is a lack of political will and too much influence of the permanent government — the Civil Service. There needs to be a clear, unambiguous policy statement from the Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform regarding the value of the role of the English language training sector and how the Department will work with the international education sector to help develop that sector.
At a time like this, we must consider the revenue we are losing and how the current visa system is affecting the English language training sector. We estimate that the English language training industry, combined with the international education sector, could be worth €4 billion a year to Ireland. As it stands, it is worth about €500 million so we are losing valuable revenue. Because of the lack of a politically directed coherent and consistent international education policy which would apply across all Departments, we are not realising the potential that is in the sector.
The Department of Justice, Equality and Law Reform is not somehow outside the loop in marketing the Ireland brand. Its sloppy administration and high refusal rates create a negative impression of Ireland and make the job of selling Ireland more difficult than it should be. There needs to be an interdepartmental process through which visa decisions can be examined in the light of expressed Government policy. I am keen to hear the Minister of State's response on how we can improve this issue and make Ireland a thriving base for language teaching. We have the teachers, we have the confidence; we just need a way to get the students.
