Richard Boyd Barrett (Dún Laoghaire, People Before Profit Alliance)
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468. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the steps he is taking to ensure that officials keep accurate visa statistics regarding the number of tourist visas being issued in the Beijing office; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [22418/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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The Automated Visa Application Tracking System (AVATS), which is the system through which all visa applications are made on-line and processed, provides accurate statistics on all categories of visas worldwide. The Deputy may also wish to note that China is one of the seventeen countries covered by the Visa Waiver Programme which allows certain categories of visitor to the UK, including tourists, to travel on to Ireland without the need for an Irish visa. Central Statistics Office figures on trips to Ireland from various countries are used to extrapolate the uptake of the Programme.