Colm Burke (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I welcome the Minister to the House to deal with this matter. I wish to raise the issuing of visas to persons who wish to enter the country and in particular, the issuing of three-month visas. The specific case I raise concerns a married couple who are both registrars in hospitals in Cork. They have senior positions as registrars and are crucial to the provision of health care services in the hospitals in which they work. As the Minister is aware, the HSE is finding it extremely difficult to recruit staff at the moment, with over 250 consultant posts vacant as well as a large number of NCHD posts vacant. Many of those posts are being filled by agency doctors. These doctors are not agency doctors and are committed to this country, having lived here for a considerable period of time. They are providing a very valuable service to the health care sector. They have two young children and the woman wants her father to be able to come to Ireland to stay with the family and give them support but all he can get is a three-month visa. He received a letter recently from the embassy in New Delhi declining his application for a visa.
The family would have no difficulty if a six-month visa was issued - that is manageable. However, in the context of travelling from India to Ireland, a three-month visa is not cost-effective. It is not that the couple want him to come here to provide child care - they already have an au pair doing that. They just want extra support for the family unit but the system as it currently exists is not accommodating them. I ask that the system be reviewed. At a time when we cannot get medical practitioners to come here to work, we should not be putting obstacles in peoples' way which will discourage them from staying here and prevent them from getting family support when they need it. In this case, the children are both under five. The woman wants her father to be allowed to stay for a decent period of time and I ask that the matter be examined.