Vol. 417 No. 2
110 Mr. J. O'Keeffe asked the Minister for Justice the categories of people who are not allowed to enter the country without visas; the guidelines applicable to any requests for a waiver of such requirements; the authority which grants such requests; and the circumstances and number of people requiring visas who were allowed to enter the country without such visas in 1990 and 1991.
The Sixth Schedule of the Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1975 (S.I. No. 128 of 1975) and the following amendment orders: Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1985 (S.I. No. 154 of 1985); Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1986 (S.I. No. 31 of 1986); Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1987 (S.I. No. 340 of 1987); Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1989 (S.I. No. 297 of 1989); Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1990 (S.I. No. 78 of 1990); Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1990 (S.I. No. 142 of 1990); Aliens (Amendment) Order, 1990 (S.I. No. 228 of 1990) list the nationalities who are not required to be in possession of a visa before travelling to Ireland.
In addition, immigration officers have discretion in exceptional circumstances to allow entry to persons who are not in possession of a valid visa. Each case is considered on its individual merits.
Statistics are not maintained in such a way as to enable the number of persons exceptionally admitted to be readily ascertained and, as the number involved would be insignificant, the diversion of scarce staff resources in order to compile the information could not be justified.
