Niall Collins (Limerick County, Fianna Fail)

The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade has assisted 153 individuals in exiting Gaza. Where officials in the Department have received requests for assistance, they have reviewed each case within the context of the Department's consular assistance charter, which guides its overall consular assistance policy on the ongoing situation in Gaza and provides clear advice and guidance to these individuals. Those individuals the Department was in a position to assist have been assisted in exiting Gaza and travelling to Ireland.

I appreciate that this may be extremely disappointing for those who have a scholarship for an Irish university and have not been able to travel. However, as the Senator will appreciate, the Department, and Irish embassies and consulates worldwide, are extremely limited in the assistance they can provide to non-Irish citizens. I reiterate that Ireland continues to both bilaterally and at a multilateral level call on Israel to comply with international law, stressing the universal applicability of international law, including international humanitarian law. The nine Palestinian students who safely left Gaza yesterday are due to arrive in Ireland today andl take up their scholarships for the coming academic year under the Government's Ireland Palestine scholarship programme, which is supported through Irish Aid.

Up to 30 students from the West Bank and Gaza have benefited from these scholarships each year since it was established in 2019. It is a competitive scholarship for students with a bachelors degree who are resident in the occupied Palestinian territories. The application process is rigorous and highly competitive comprising of application forms, essays and interviews. The scholarship programme is committed to providing equal opportunity to all applicants. I appreciate that this may be extremely disappointing for other students who have been awarded a scholarship for an Irish university and have not been able to travel. However, as the Senator will appreciate, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and Irish embassies worldwide are extremely limited in the assistance we can provide to non-Irish citizens. I assure her that I will convey her sentiments to the Tánaiste.