John Perry (Sligo-Leitrim, Fine Gael)
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Question 119: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason, in view of the fact that Taiwan is a maturing democracy and a developing economy in modern terms, that Ireland is the only European country with a referral process for student visas and that only seven student visas are granted for Taiwanese students to travel here where the one area of difficulty in student visas is that they have to be referred back to Dublin for a decision which takes more than eight weeks whereas over 60,000 students enter England on student visas; the further reason there is no Irish personnel in the visa section in Taipei; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [9264/07]

Michael McDowell (Dublin South East, Progressive Democrats)
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All student visa applications (with the exception of those lodged in Beijing, Moscow and New Delhi) are determined by the Visa Office in Dublin. The turn around time for study visa decisions is currently between five and seven days and while there can be a delay in applications reaching Dublin I am satisfied that the service provided to the education sector has improved considerably and continues to do so.

The placement of staff in Missions abroad is a matter for my colleague the Minister for Foreign Affairs. At this time I see no reason to change current practice in relation to study visa applications from Taiwan. I am satisfied that the visa office in Dublin provides, and will continue to provide, a quality service to students seeking to study in Ireland from all parts of the world.