Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 690: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the number of visa applications for travel to Ireland received from Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela for each year since 2000; the number of such applications allowed and rejected; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1316/06]

Bernard Allen (Cork North Central, Fine Gael)
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Question 693: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs the purpose of the visit for each granted visa in respect of the number of visas granted for travel to Ireland by nationals of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela since 2000; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [1383/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 690 and 693 together.

Persons holding Venezuelan passports are not required to have visas to enter Ireland.

In applications from citizens of Ecuador and Columbia, the Department's central records relate to the numbers of applications from all nationalities processed by our individual missions and the visa office in Dublin. They are not disaggregated by the nationality of the applicant, or by the purpose of the visit. However, under the new AVATS visa issuing system, which is being developed at present, we envisage having the capacity to produce the type of management information reports and breakdowns sought by the Deputy.

In order to be as helpful as possible, I set out in the following table the numbers of visa applications from Colombia and Ecuador processed through our Embassy in Mexico. These include applications received by the Honorary Consulates in Quito and Bogotá. A small number of visa applications for Ecuador were also processed by the Embassy in Buenos Aires, and these statistics are also included in the table.

Colombia

2000

Approved: 82

Refused: 1

2001

Approved: 120

Refused: 10

2002

Approved: 197

Refused 16

2003

Approved: 182 (includes three granted on appeal)

Refused 29 (includes three refusals later granted on appeal)

2004

Approved: 200 (includes eight granted on appeal)

Refused: 34 (includes eight refusals later granted on appeal)

2005

Approved: 187 (includes seven granted on appeal)

Refused: 30 (includes seven refusals later granted on appeal)

Ecuador

2000

Approved: 1

Refused: 0

2001

Approved: 1

Refused: 0

2002

Approved: 3

Refused: 0

2003

Approved: 4

Refused: 0

2004

Approved: 4 (including 2 processed by Embassy Buenos Aires)

Refused: 0

2005

Approved: 30 (including 21 processed by Embassy Buenos Aires)

Refused 6 (including 1 processed by Embassy Buenos Aires)