{"id":13642,"date":"2025-09-26T11:15:14","date_gmt":"2025-09-26T10:15:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/?p=13642"},"modified":"2025-09-26T11:15:14","modified_gmt":"2025-09-26T10:15:14","slug":"tanaiste-must-explain-why-he-gave-partial-information-to-the-dail-about-gaa-palestine-visa-refusal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/ga\/tanaiste-must-explain-why-he-gave-partial-information-to-the-dail-about-gaa-palestine-visa-refusal\/","title":{"rendered":"T\u00e1naiste must explain why he gave partial information to the D\u00e1il about GAA Palestine visa refusal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em><strong>Was the T\u00e1naiste kept in the dark or did he give partial information to the D\u00e1il?\u00a0<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>The T\u00e1naiste must explain why he omitted the main reason visas for a Palestinian GAA club were refused during the summer when answering questions on this issue in the D\u00e1il, according to Social Democrats spokesperson for sport Sin\u00e9ad Gibney.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere was heartbreak this summer when visas for 33 Palestinian children, aged between 9 and 16, from the West Bank were refused. This was a trip that had been many months in the making, with more than 100 host families, all over the country, looking forward to welcoming the children to Ireland for a GAA tour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I raised this issue with T\u00e1naiste Simon Harris in the D\u00e1il at the time, he said the reason for the refusal was due to \u201cchild protection\u201d concerns and cited our \u201crules based migration system\u201d. What he didn\u2019t say was that officials, in the Department of Justice, were primarily concerned that Palestinian children, and their adult mentors, would not return to the West Bank.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Freedom of Information documents provided to TheJournal.ie, an official in the Department of Justice is clear that the visas were refused for \u201cprincipally, the risk of overstay\u201d. In fact, according to TheJournal.ie, \u201cthe issue [of overstay] came up repeatedly in high-level emails and briefings from the time\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cShamefully, the apartheid Israeli system that oppresses Palestinians, was used as a weapon against them in their visa application. Officials cited \u201clogistical issues\u201d that could impede the return of the group to the West Bank, including a requirement to get exit and re-entry approval from Israeli authorities.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNone of this was mentioned in the D\u00e1il, by the T\u00e1naiste, when I questioned him on July 10, about the refusal to grant visas. Back then, he bristled at any suggestion GAA Palestine were being treated unfairly and insisted to me \u2013 and two other TDs \u2013 that the main reason for the refusal was child protection. This was not true.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe T\u00e1naiste should now explain why he did not give complete information at the time \u2013 was he kept in the dark or was he simply giving partial information?<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe should also now clarify if increased barriers have been put in place for groups from Palestine to come here \u2013 at a time when he himself acknowledges a genocide is underway in Gaza and Israel is illegally annexing the West Bank.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Was the T\u00e1naiste kept in the dark or did he give partial information to the D\u00e1il?\u00a0 The T\u00e1naiste must explain why he omitted the main reason visas for a Palestinian GAA club were refused during the summer when answering questions on this issue in the D\u00e1il, according to Social Democrats spokesperson for sport Sin\u00e9ad Gibney. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":11661,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[529,738,7,497],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13642","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-gaza","category-palestine","category-press-release","category-sinead-gibney"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>T\u00e1naiste must explain why he gave partial information to the D\u00e1il about GAA Palestine visa refusal - Social Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.socialdemocrats.ie\/tanaiste-must-explain-why-he-gave-partial-information-to-the-dail-about-gaa-palestine-visa-refusal\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"ga_IE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"T\u00e1naiste must explain why he gave partial information to the D\u00e1il about GAA Palestine visa refusal - Social Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Was the T\u00e1naiste kept in the dark or did he give partial information to the D\u00e1il?\u00a0 The T\u00e1naiste must explain why he omitted the main reason visas for a Palestinian GAA club were refused during the summer when answering questions on this issue in the D\u00e1il, according to Social Democrats spokesperson for sport Sin\u00e9ad Gibney. 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