Michael Lowry (Tipperary North, Independent)
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Question 152: To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs if, in view of humanitarian work carried out by many Irish groups in providing respite visits to nationals from Belarus since Chernobyl, he has plans to establish an embassy in Minsk to cater for the hundreds of visa applications from that country every year; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [25450/06]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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In 2005, a decision was taken that children travelling from Belarus for recuperation visits under the auspices of various Chernobyl groups would require visas to enter Ireland. This requirement was made effective for most groups as from 1 January 2006 and will apply to all groups from 1 January 2007.

Prior to the visa requirement coming into effect, detailed discussions took place between the Visa Office of the Embassy of Ireland in Moscow and representatives of the various groups in order to ensure that travel by the children would not be disrupted. These arrangements are currently working well and I am satisfied that visas for the various children's groups are being processed speedily by the Embassy in Moscow. In the first five months of this year, 1,065 such visas have been issued.

I am not aware of any disruption of visits by children's groups travelling to Ireland arising from the introduction of the visa requirement. Nevertheless, the Embassy in Moscow will review the operation of the current scheme and will discuss it with the representatives of the various groups involved later this year.

Ireland has a small diplomatic service and any expansion of its network of resident Missions abroad must be approached on a phased basis, having regard to clear priorities. I am satisfied that our existing diplomatic arrangements in Belarus, namely accreditation on a non-resident basis by our Ambassador in Moscow, are sufficient to cover our interests and are working well. There are no plans to open a resident Embassy in Minsk.