James Bannon (Longford-Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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498. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the procedure to be followed in order to obtain Irish visas for the children of an Irish citizen (details supplied) in County Westmeath who are anxious to comply with all necessary regulations; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17981/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification, which I published on 31 December 2013, is a comprehensive statement of Irish national immigration policy in the area of family reunification. It is available on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service of my Department at www.inis.gov.ie.

It is open to a visa required national to make a visa application, for any purpose, the onus resting with the applicant to satisfy the visa officer as to why the visa should be granted. All information that the applicant wishes to have taken into consideration should be included where a visa application is submitted. Comprehensive information on the visa application process is available on the INIS website. It should be borne in mind, however, that the information contained on the website is intended in the nature of guidance only. It does not limit the discretion of the visa officer in dealing with individual applications.

I am advised by INIS that visa applications in respect of the children referred to by the Deputy were submitted at the end of July, 2013. These applications were refused last August and an appeal against the refusals was upheld last October. Detailed refusal reasons were communicated to the applicants/sponsor. It is open at any time to the applicants to make fresh visa applications. However, in so doing they would be advised to address the original refusal reasons and the requirements of the Policy Document referred to above.

Queries in relation to general immigration matters may be made directly to INIS by e-mail using the Oireachtas Mail facility which has been specifically established for this purpose. This service enables up to date information on such cases to be obtained without the need to seek information by way of the Parliamentary Questions process. The Deputy may consider using the e-mail service except in cases where the response from INIS is, in the Deputy's view, inadequate or too long awaited.

Noel Harrington (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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501. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality further to Parliamentary Questions Nos. 439 and 464 of 8 April 2014 that he is stating that there is no statutory instrument, guidelines, rules, or written instructions that the deciding officer must operate under in requesting personal information from the applicant and or host in assessing applicants for visitor visas; his views that he should introduce a statutory instrument or at least written guidelines in the interests of good governance; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [18071/14]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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While it is the case that there is no separate statutory instrument setting out the visa decision-making process, I can assure the Deputy that visa officers assess visa applications having regard to detailed administrative guidelines.

Key elements of those guidelines are available on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (www.inis.gov.ie). For example, the list of documentation normally required in support of each visa type is set out with, of course, the rider that there is no one set of documents that will guarantee the approval of an application. The key issues that the visa officer will assess are also set out and include, for example, whether the applicant, or the applicant's sponsor (where relevant) has sufficient money to support and accommodate the applicant without recourse to public funds or resources. It is made clear that the burden of proof is at all times on the applicant.

A visa officer may, when examining an application accompanied by insufficient documentation, request such personal information from an applicant and /or host as would allow the officer to make a fully informed decision on the application. This procedure is to the benefit of the applicant as their application would otherwise be refused. As previously advised, applicants are forewarned of the possibility of further information being requested by the wording of the declaration that they sign as part of the application process.

Any documentation provided for the purposes of a visa application is treated in complete confidence and is subject to the provisions and safeguards of the Data Protection Acts.