High Court hears claim of 80% error rate in Palestinian visa refusals

The High Court was told on Friday that an “80% error rate” may exist in decisions to refuse visas for Palestinian students seeking university places in Ireland.

Ms Justice Siobhán Phelan heard arguments from Sarah Jane Hillery, a barrister for several students, who said the recent overturning of a visa refusal for Ms Shaymaa Abudalu – a 20‑year‑old from Gaza awarded a fully funded engineering scholarship at University College Cork – demonstrated a high error rate in the minister’s decisions.

Mr Justice Anthony Barr had earlier set aside the refusal, finding “significant and demonstrable errors” such as the mistaken claim that required financial documents were missing and that Ms Abudalu’s English‑language certification had not been considered.

Following a settlement agreement in the judicial review cases, the Department of Justice expedited appeals for three Palestinian students, granting them visas, while a fourth student lost an expedited appeal.

State counsel, Eoin Carolan, rejected the error‑rate argument, noting the expedited appeals were “de novo” and based on new material, not errors in the original decisions.

The judge directed solicitors to inform the minister of any identified factual errors in refusals and to confirm the status of university offers for the current academic year. The matters are scheduled to return to court next month.

Source: Irish Examiner. Photo: Malcolm Hill / Pexels.