Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The visa system is operated at official level and the Minister cannot deal with every visa application. I only learnt of that matter on Friday. The two young persons concerned are in employment in the State. They are lawfully here in the State. Upon learning of the matter, I directed that a visa should issue for their young child. I understand that the child, when a baby, went back to China to be cared for by the grandparents and the parents now wish to have their child returned to their care in Ireland. I am happy to say that I gave instructions that a visa should issue, they have been so informed, the legal practitioner representing them has been so informed, and I hope that happily resolves the difficulty that arose in respect of that family.

In response to Deputy Niall Collins, I do not have an exact economic analysis of the impact of the visa scheme. One of the issues is the extent to which it is contributing to the numbers of tourists coming to the State. I do not know individually how much each person is spending when he or she is here, and it would be impossible to conduct an economic analysis of that. On the other side of it, we are aware, for example, in the context of the visa investment programme, that investments in excess of €10 million have been achieved. I understand that within the processing system - there is an independent committee with representatives, among others, of the Department of Justice and Equality, the Department of Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and the Department of Finance who vet applications and business propositions - there are a number of interesting propositions under consideration. I am hopeful that in 2013 we will see a considerable upsurge in the financial values of the investments that result from this scheme.

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