Thank you, Sir, for permitting me to raise this matter on the Adjournment.
Ireland is one of only three European countries whose citizens are required to apply for a visa when visiting the United States of America, the others being Portugal and Greece. Citizens of other European Union countries like Britain, France and Germany are not required to apply for non-immigrant visas. I understand the historical reasons related to the extent of emigration from this country to the United States. While the level of emigration is still high, compared with, say, Britain, there is no reason for the United States authorities to treat Irish citizens as second-class Europeans whose entry to and stay in the United States has to be controlled on the same basis as Third World countries.
Given the alleged influence of the Irish lobby in the United States it is remarkable that this discriminatory practice has been allowed continue. Football fans travelling to the United States for the World Cup this year will encounter those restrictive visa requirements and many fans will be refused initially. It is to be hoped that the special arrangements being put in place will result in all of them being able to travel.
The administration of the visa requirement by the United States Embassy in Dublin impacts most severely on young Irish people wishing to travel to the United States for family or private reasons. As a Member of this House I have come across many cases in recent years of young people being refused visas for no apparent reason than that they were single, in their early twenties and did not own a house.
The problem seems to be that the United States authorities assume that an applicant for a non-immigrant visa intends to remain in the United States unless he or she can prove otherwise. The most recent case I have come across is most absurd. I will make details of that case available to the Tánaiste in the hope that he can prevail on the United States Embassy to issue a visa. The case concerns an applicant of 18 years of age who intended to travel to the United States at the end of May to attend a family wedding. He had planned to travel with seven other members of his family, all of whom applied for visas at the same time and have now been issued with them. One member of the travelling party is the 18-year-old girlfriend of the applicant but, as she is a United Kingdom citizen, she does not need a visa. The young man concerned wrote to the United States Embassy to have his application reviewed. He submitted letters from FÁS with whom he had been undertaking a training course, the girl who was to be married, the priest who was to conduct the service, his parish priest and myself, all attesting to his intention to return to Ireland after the wedding. Again he was refused and effectively told not to reapply.
There is an obligation on the Government to make the strongest possible representation to the United States authorities over the grossly unfair treatment of young people who are applying for visas to enter the United States.