An Taoiseach, Mr Micheál Martin, TD

An Tánaiste, Simon Harris, TD

Minister for Justice, Home Affairs and Migration, Jim O'Callaghan TD

Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Helen McEntee TD

Minister for Further & Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science James Lawless TD

1st October, 2026

Dear Taoiseach, Tánaiste, Ministers O'Callaghan, McEntee, and Lawless,
We write to you, urgently, as academics, scholars, researchers, administrators, support staff, and students in third-level education in Ireland to urge the immediate reversal of the unconscionable actions of your government in denying visas for Palestinian students pursuing further study here. 

Like many people across this island, we have watched in horror over the past three years as Palestinians have been subjected to a brutal campaign of genocide. As part of this, the UN has recognised a focussed campaign of scholasticide which has particularly targeted schools and higher level academic institutions in Gaza and across Palestine. During a period when exceptions to the world’s commitment to human rights have been so catastrophically exposed, the solidarity demonstrated by the large majority of Irish people for Palestinian freedom has been an important light in the darkness.

In this context, it is difficult to fathom how a government which claims to represent the people of Ireland, and whose Taoiseach Micheál Martin, at the UN explicitly called out the shameful failure of the international community, is now actively engaged in compounding the suffering of Palestinians seeking to further their education in Ireland. The recent pattern of denials of visas to Palestinian students from Gaza who had been accepted and offered places for further study by Irish universities and who have been supported by Irish government and independent scholarships is unacceptable in this context. 

More than half of Palestinian applicants have now been denied visas, despite having the promise of scholarships and admission and despite overwhelming support among workers in the higher education sector to welcome and support them in our universities. Beyond the denial, some of the rationales for visa refusals add an extraordinary degree of cruelty to the process, such as asking for copies of academic credentials or bank statements to be mailed by individuals living under the conditions of Israel’s genocide where there is no functioning infrastructure, including schools and universities, of any kind, let alone a postal or banking service. 

The scale of cruelty imposed on the Palestinian people and the destruction of its educational system by Israel is unprecedented - to quote An Taoiseach’s address to the UN General Assembly last week, “Nobody will be able to say that we did not know. Let it not be said that we did not act”.’ A policy of visa denial in the midst of genocide is both immoral and against the will of the Irish people and education sector. Failure to address it will be an enduring cause of shame to the government and the individuals imposing it.

We therefore insist that the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice give clear commitments to -

• Let the Gaza students study in Ireland
• Grant the Gaza students their visas