Joe Costello (Dublin Central, Labour)

As the Minister outlined, this situation goes back to 1992 when the young woman's father, Mr. Selcuk Dulkadiroglu, came to Ireland and worked in the Turkish Embassy. In 1994, he then transferred to Trinity College and worked as a lecturer there for five years. His daughter came to Ireland as a young girl in 1994, attended Oatlands College secondary school, went on to study at University College Dublin, qualified, entered the Irish workforce and travelled to and from Turkey. In the meantime, her father returned to Turkey following the termination of his course at Trinity College in 1998 and is now mayor of a large city in Turkey. The young woman has been granted temporary residence permits over a period and faces the same situation again.

Why was her father not considered to be part of the Irish labour force during the five years in which he worked for Trinity College? If he had been recognised as a member of the Irish labour force, it would have entitled her to residency. I have letters from Trinity College describing her father's work. One letter certifies that: "Mr. Selcuk Dulkadiroglu who has been teaching our Introduction to the Turkish Language and Culture course since its inception in 1992, is again teaching the course in the 1996-97 school year".

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