Heather Humphreys (Cavan-Monaghan, Fine Gael)
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I can advise the Deputy that Long Stay Join Family visa applications are processed in accordance with the guidelines set out in the Policy Document on Non-EEA Family Reunification. This policy document may be accessed at the following link:

www.irishimmigration.ie/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Policy-document-on-Non-EEA-family-reunification.pdf

Disability allowance payments are excluded from the requirement that the sponsor must not have been reliant on State benefits from the Irish State for a continuous period in excess of two years immediately prior to making the application. Therefore, people receiving a disability allowance are considered eligible sponsors, subject to meeting any other necessary requirements, including the financial requirements. It is also important to note that each application is examined by my Department on a case-by-case basis and any humanitarian factors will be taken into consideration in making a decision. 

Financial capacity is, of course, also just one of the conditions to be satisfied for family reunification to take place. When considering the matter of family reunification it is important to look at this in the wider context of public policy. The State must strike a fair balance between the sometimes competing interests of the individual and of the community as a whole. Economic considerations are therefore a very necessary part of family reunification policy.

While it is not proposed that family reunification determinations should become purely financial assessments, the State cannot be regarded as having an obligation to subsidise the family concerned. The sponsor must be seen to fulfil their responsibility to provide for their family members if they are to be permitted to come to Ireland.

In relation to Syrian citizens specifically, in 2014 Ireland introduced a Syrian Humanitarian Admission Programme (SHAP). The SHAP offered naturalised Irish citizens of Syrian birth and Syrian nationals already legally resident in Ireland an opportunity to make an application for vulnerable close family members to join them in Ireland for up to two years under a sponsorship programme.

This Programme was an additional initiative in response to the crisis in Syria and was without prejudice to other existing avenues whereby by Syrian national might lawfully enter the State, such as family reunification for the family members of refugees and persons with subsidiary protection, and the UNHCR's resettlement programme.