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Palestine GAA club's planned tour of Ireland ‘under serious threat' due to visa delays
A West Bank GAA club's planned trip to Ireland 'is now under serious threat due to visa delays', representatives have said.
At least 33 young Palestinian players are to arrive in Ireland in July to play a series of competitive matches against GAA clubs around the country and to take part in a cultural exchange.
GAA Palestine, the organisation behind the tour, said it faced 'new requirements introduced during the [application] process', such as English-language birth certificates for Palestinian players and for coaches born in the West Bank.
It further said the Irish embassy in Tel Aviv had closed its public office since Iranian missiles hit the Israeli capital and it was 'not prioritising visa applications ... halting all progress'.
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A total of 46 people, including players, coaches, officials and one doctor, were due to arrive in Dublin on July 18th as part of planned trip by Ramallah-based Moataz Sarsour GAA club.
GAA Palestine chairman Stephen Redmond said the new requirements in the visa application process had increased the expected processing time from four weeks to eight after, he said, it was given a 10 week pre-departure time frame to submit all necessary paperwork.
It had officially submitted the visa applications on May 19th. Co-founder of GAA Palestine Claire Liddy said 'the embassy responded three weeks later, on Monday, June 9th, with a list of additional required documents'.
She said the Irish Representative Office in Ramallah 'refused to accept the original documents' on June 13th. She said as local team members were Palestinian, they were 'banned from travelling to Tel Aviv', so club officials outside the region 'had to scan and send the original documents digitally on Monday, June 16th'.
A spokesperson for the Department of Foreign Affairs said: 'The department cannot comment on individual visa applications, but all visa applications are processed in line with established procedures for consideration by the Department of Justice.'
The spokesperson said the Irish embassy's public office in Tel Aviv and representative office in Ramallah 'are presently closed due to the security situation and staff are working remotely. The public offices will reopen when circumstances permit'.
Mr Redmond criticised what he labelled 'bureaucratic nonsense' and he called 'for common sense to prevail so these young people can step on to a GAA pitch'. He said the group had requested an expedited processing of their application, but that this had not taken place.
'With co-operation from the Department of Foreign Affairs, there is still a chance to issue these visas in time,' he said.
