Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 377: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average length of time it takes to process an application for a holiday visa, made through embassies and offices abroad, to visit here; if applications made by persons (details supplied) will be expedited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17966/05]

Seán Haughey (Dublin North Central, Fianna Fail)
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Question 378: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the average length of time it takes to process an application for a holiday visa, made through embassies and offices abroad, to visit here; if applications made by persons (details supplied) will be expedited; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17967/05]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 377 and 378 together.

The Deputy has referred to two applications in his parliamentary question, but has omitted to include application reference numbers. However, my officials believe they have identified the applications in question. Both applications were received by my Department on 20 May 2005, having been forwarded by the Department of Foreign Affairs the previous day.

In general, visa applications take on average four to six weeks to process from the date they are received in my Department's visa section. Any application made in an embassy or consular post abroad must, if not falling within the terms of the delegated sanction arrangement, be forwarded to my Department's visa section in Dublin. The time required for an application to reach Dublin from abroad varies considerably from country to country.

Applications are generally dealt with strictly in date received order. This guarantees the fairest, most transparent service for all our customers. In exceptional cases, where it can be demonstrated that there are extenuating circumstances to be taken into account, applications may be given priority, however based on the information available, it does not appear that any such circumstances exist in this case.