Fergus O'Dowd
Question:369 Mr. O’Dowd asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if a visa will be granted to a person (details supplied) whose father is resident in County Louth. [14185/04]
View answerTuesday, 18 May 2004
Questions (355)
Written answers
The mother of the six year old person in question applied for a short term visa in 2001 for the stated purpose of attending a short conference. She entered the State on 28 April 2001. She remained in the State and on 28 May 2001 gave birth to a child. She applied for permission to reside on the basis of parentage of that Irish born child and this was granted on 3 December 2001. The father of the person in question applied for a short-term visa for the stated purpose of coming to the State to sit an examination. He entered the State on 4 April 2002. He applied for permission to reside based on parentage of the same Irish born child and this was granted on 29 November 2002. A visa application was submitted on behalf of the person in question to allow him to come and reside with his parents in the State.
Following the decision of the Supreme Court in the cases of L & O, the separate procedure which then existed to enable persons to apply to reside in the State on the sole basis of parentage of an Irish born child ended on 19 February 2003. The Government also decided that the general policy of allowing such parents to be joined in the State by other family members would no longer apply. Accordingly, the immigration division of my Department does not generally approve visas in respect of such visa applications.