Vol. 571 No. 1
1097 Mr. Cuffe asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the changes which have been made in the issuing of holiday visas to Zimbabwean nationals; and the number of such visas applied for and granted in each month of 2002 and in each month for which figures are available in 2003. [19616/03]
Following the removal of Zimbabwe from the list of countries exempted from the Irish visa requirement in November 2002, Zimbabwean nationals now require a valid Irish visa to come to the State. Visa applications can be made either through the Irish Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, or directly to the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin.
Records are not maintained in such a fashion as to provide a monthly breakdown of the numbers of visas issued to individual nationalities. It should be noted in this context that only a proportion of visa applications are referred to my Department. The remainder are processed under delegated sanction by the Department of Foreign Affairs in their Embassies and Consuls throughout the world.
