Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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753. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality his plans to address the delays in short term or visiting visa applications; if there are any measures under consideration in relation to a specific visitors visa; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [28017/13]

Alan Shatter (Dublin South, Fine Gael)
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I am informed by officials of the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of my Department that they are not aware of any inordinate delay in processing short stay visa applications. Detailed analysis of short stay visa applications for 2012 shows that almost 50% of such applications worldwide were processed within four days of having been received in an embassy or visa office. This compares very favourably with processing times in other EU Member States. Moreover, in total almost 90,000 entry visa applications were processed in 2012 with an approval rate of 91%. Visa applicants are advised to apply eight weeks before the intended date of travel, however, this advice is mainly precautionary. Although the processing time for dealing with visit applications can vary depending on the particular circumstances of each individual case and the level of investigation required, it would be quite rare for a straightforward short stay visa application to take eight weeks to process.

There is already, under the Irish visa system, a category "Visit Visa" which includes short-term visas for those who wish to visit family/friends as well as those who wish to visit as independent holiday makers. This feature, whereby the visa applicant describes the exact purpose of their intended journey, is common to many visa regimes, for example, the Schengen visa regime covering most of our EU partner countries. No change in this area is envisaged. It is important to note that the great majority of visitors to Ireland - over 98% - come from countries whose citizens are not visa-required, for example, the UK, the US, EU member states as well as a wide range of other countries spread throughout the world. Therefore, reforms of the visa regime can have only a limited effect on tourism and other visits. Nevertheless my Department is constantly seeking ways in which the visa system can be used to facilitate increased tourist and business visits.

The Deputy will no doubt be aware of the Short-stay Irish Visa Waiver Programme, launched by this Government on 1 July 2011, which allows persons from seventeen designated countries to travel to Ireland on the basis of a UK visa. This Programme has proved very effective in attracting increased numbers of visitors from emerging tourist markets. In the twelve months following the introduction of the programme, visits from the countries covered by it increased by 21% over the preceding twelve months. The Government has also taken other steps to make the visa process easier including making greater use of multi-entry visas for regular tourist and business visitors from targeted markets including China, the UAE and Russia. My Department has established six overseas offices in strategic hub locations to provide a better and more convenient service to visa applicants from the busiest locations. It is also in discussion with the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade on steps to make the issuing of visas through Irish missions overseas, under delegated sanction from my Department, more efficient.