Charles Flanagan (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 285: To ask the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that citizens of the Republic of Mauritius may visit 27 EU countries, including the UK and Ireland, without applying for and being granted a visa; if he will make a statement on the position regarding same and the proposals and changes to the current regime. [40505/09]

Dermot Ahern (Louth, Fianna Fail)
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Section 17 of the Immigration Act 2004 sets out the purposes for which the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform can make a Visa Order declaring that members of specified classes of non-nationals are not required to be in possession of an Irish visa when landing in the State. At present, nationals of Mauritius are not visa required as set out in Statutory Instrument No. 239 of 2009. However, with effect from 1 January 2010, this position will change and nationals of Mauritius will require an entry visa.

The agreement between the European Community and the Republic of Mauritius provides for visa free travel for a maximum period of three months and does not cover travel for the purposes of paid activity. The agreement is binding only on the member states that fully apply the Schengen acquis and so, Ireland is not bound by it or subject to its application.

In maintaining the Common Travel Area (CTA) that Ireland shares with the UK both States co-operate to ensure that their respective Visa Lists cohere as much as possible in all practical respects to the extent warranted by immigration concerns. However, it does not preclude divergence by either State. It should be noted that in the UK, all non-EEA or non-Swiss nationals are visa-required if they are coming for more than six months. The Irish system operates on the basis that, depending on his or her nationality, the visitor is either visa required or not, irrespective of the length of their stay.

Visa and pre-entry clearance systems are at the core of immigration controls and the inclusion of nationalities on lists of persons who require visas is usually the result of experience regarding the nationalities concerned. There are currently over 5,000 Mauritian nationals registered with the Garda National Immigration Bureau, mostly as students. Taking the population of Mauritius as being approximately 1.25 million this means that one in every 250 Mauritian nationals is in Ireland.

The Mauritian authorities have been informed by our Department of Foreign Affairs of this change in the visa requirement. Information has been placed on the website of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) in this regard.