Latest news with #NealeRichmond
TimesLIVE
8 hours ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
More visa officials to clear SA-Ireland applications backlog
The Republic of Ireland has increased the number of officials processing visa applications from South Africans seeking to visit or work in that country, as it moves to clear a backlog caused by a huge spike in visa applications. Neale Richmond, minister of state for international development and diaspora, said the decision to impose strict visa conditions was taken over a year ago when the country experienced a 100% increase in people entering the island nation from South Africa and Nigeria and claiming international protected status. 'That's why we put them on the list of those who require visas, to stop people who were coming because it was visa-free travel. They were getting here claiming international protection,' Richmond said on the sidelines of the Africa-Ireland Horizons conference in Dublin. The imposition of the strict visa regime resulted in applications for work, family and travel visas taking months to process as the government agency responsible could not cope with the many applications. 'Those moves were very harsh, but they were necessary at the time to re-regulate migration,' Richmond said. 'I have quite a large South African minority population in my constituency who've been here a long time; they have been here 20 to 25 years, they are Irish citizens, but Granny can't come and visit the new child, business partners can't come. The head of Nandos lives in my constituency ... It's had very real human consequences; it's been tough.' A decision was taken to triple the number of officials processing visas from South Africa and this had brought the waiting time down to three months, he said. 'We've doubled the resources in terms of visa applications in South Africa, both here in Dublin and at our embassy in Pretoria. The acute issue was far more (serious) in South Africa than Nigeria; not only for established commercial reasons but also for very clear people-to-people reasons. The process will now go much quicker but will always be under review.' The country is prioritising South Africans for critical skills visas, he added.
The Herald
a day ago
- Business
- The Herald
More visa officials to clear SA-Ireland applications backlog
The Republic of Ireland has increased the number of officials processing visa applications from South Africans seeking to visit or work in that country, as it moves to clear a backlog caused by a huge spike in visa applications. Neale Richmond, minister of state for international development and diaspora, said the decision to impose strict visa conditions was taken over a year ago when the country experienced a 100% increase in people entering the island nation from South Africa and Nigeria and claiming international protected status. 'That's why we put them on the list of those who require visas, to stop people who were coming because it was visa-free travel. They were getting here claiming international protection,' Richmond said on the sidelines of the Africa-Ireland Horizons conference in Dublin. The imposition of the strict visa regime resulted in applications for work, family and travel visas taking months to process as the government agency responsible could not cope with the many applications. Richmond said, 'Those moves were very harsh, but they were necessary at the time to re-regulate migration. I have quite a large South African minority population in my constituency who've been here a long time; they have been here 20 to 25 years, they are Irish citizens, but Granny can't come and visit the new child, business partners can't come. The head of Nandos lives in my constituency ... It's had very real human consequences; it's been tough.' Richmond said a decision was taken to triple the number of officials processing visas from South Africa and this had brought the waiting time down to three months. 'We've doubled the resources in terms of visa applications in South Africa, both here in Dublin and at our embassy in Pretoria. The acute issue was far more (serious) in South Africa than Nigeria; not only for established commercial reasons but also for very clear people-to-people reasons. The process will now go much quicker but will always be under review,' he said. He said the country was prioritising South Africans for critical skills visas. TimesLIVE
Mail & Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Irish state minister: Visa imposed on South Africans harsh, but necessary
Irish Minister of State Neale Richmond gives an address at the Africa Ireland Trade Horizons conference. (Supplied) A new visa requirement for South Africans travelling to Ireland, which was announced last year, was harsh but necessary at the time, Irish State Minister Neale Richmond said on Thursday, and was under constant review. The Irish government announced in July 2024 that South African and Botswana passport holders would require visas to enter the country. Richmond said Ireland had experienced an influx of immigrants post Covid-19, which was a continental trend across Europe, saying the country did not have the resources to process the incoming people as quickly as they arrived, which eventually led to emergency accommodation needing to be sought. 'We saw over 100% of people coming here. A good mix of those people were claiming international protection and we identified a number of countries where we had a huge amount of people coming from. Nigeria was one of them and South Africa was another,' he told the Mail & Guardian in an interview. 'That's why we put them on the list that they require visas in order to stop people. People were coming because it was visa free travel. Then they were getting here and claiming international protection.' In another interview with the M&G last November, Irish ambassador Austin Gormley Gormley added that an increase in fraudulent South African passports had contributed to the decision. South Africa and Ireland celebrated 30 years of diplomatic relations in 2024 and continue to hold strong trade and investment relations. Enterprise Ireland, a government organisation that supports the development and growth of Irish enterprises on the global market, has a head office in Cape Town, the only one in sub-Saharan Africa. Data from the entity shows that two-way trade flow in goods with South Africa in 2023 amounted to €714 million, making it Ireland's biggest trade partner in Africa. Irish goods exports to South Africa rose by 25% to €448 million in 2022, while South African goods exports to Ireland doubled from €151 million to €315 million in the same period. Irish companies have developed a significant presence in South Africa and employ more than 12 500 people with services. Big Irish owned companies such as Kerry Group and QK Meats have made South Africa a base for trade and investment in Africa. But at the Africa Ireland Trade Horizons conference on 24 June, business leaders voiced their frustrations over the visa regulations that have affected travel between the two countries. 'I think those moves were very harsh,' Richmond conceded, but added: 'They were necessary at the time to reregulate migration.' 'I have quite a large South African minority population in my constituency who have been here a long time. People who move from South Africa to London for professional reasons, working with large multinationals, they've been here for 20 to 25 years, they are Irish citizens. 'You have cases where granny can't come to visit the new child, business partners can't come. I know it's a very cliched one, but it's had very real human consequences.' Richmond said resources had been doubled to handle visa applications from South Africa, not only in Dublin, but also at the Irish embassy in South Africa. 'The acute issue was far more with South Africa than Nigeria to be frank. Not only for established commercial reasons, but also for very clear people-to-people reasons,' Richmond said. 'The process will go forward and be much quicker. The process will always be under constant review. We've made the decision to triple the amount of people working and processing [visa applications], especially for South African visa applications. It was 12 to 16 weeks and now the processing time has gone down to four to six weeks.' The minister did not want to preempt any decisions that might be made regarding the visa for South Africans, but offered hope for those looking to travel to migrate to Ireland for professional purposes. 'Previously, Enterprise Ireland was responsible for work permits. We have expanded the occupation list and we are now marrying the work permit system and visa system, whereby it's one application, one result. You can get a work permit in 12 working days but a visa can take 6 weeks,' Richmond said. The journalist's trip to Ireland was sponsored by the Embassy of Ireland in South Africa.
TimesLIVE
2 days ago
- Business
- TimesLIVE
Ireland triples visa officials to clear SA applications backlog
The Republic of Ireland has doubled the number officials processing visa applications from South Africans seeking to visit or work in that country, as it moves to clear an 18-month backlog caused by a huge spike in visa applications. Neale Richmond, minister of state, said the decision to impose strict visa conditions was taken over a year ago when the country experienced a 100% increase in people entering the island nation from South Africa and Nigeria and claiming international protected status. 'That's why we put them on the list of those who require visas, to stop people who were coming because it was visa-free travel. They were getting here claiming international protection,' Richmond said on the sidelines of the Africa-Ireland Horizons conference in Dublin. The imposition of the strict visa regime resulted in applications for work, family and travel visas taking up to 18 months to process as the government agency responsible could not cope with the many applications. Richmond said, 'Those moves were very harsh, but they were necessary at the time to re-regulate migration. I have quite a large South African minority population in my constituency who've been here a long time; they have been here 20 to 25 years, they are Irish citizens, but Granny can't come and visit the new child, business partners can't come. The head of Nandos lives in my constituency ... It's had very real human consequences; it's been tough.' Richmond said a decision was taken to triple the number of officials processing visas from South Africa and this had brought the waiting time down to three months. 'We've doubled the resources in terms of visa applications in South Africa, both here in Dublin and at our embassy in Pretoria. The acute issue was far more (serious) in South Africa than Nigeria; not only for established commercial reasons but also for very clear people-to-people reasons. The process will now go much quicker but will always be under review,' he said.
The Journal
4 days ago
- Business
- The Journal
Calls in Dáil for supermarkets to publish their profits as price of groceries soar
LEADERS' QUESTIONS IN the Dáil today was largely dominated by the rising cost of living, with calls for the government to crack down on profiteering supermarkets. Social Democrats acting leader Cian O'Callaghan called on the government to mandate that supermarket chains and retailers publish their profits, something they are not currently required to do. Data published earlier this month revealed that food prices are up on average 5% in the last year, while households report that they have been cutting back or making changes to their usual purchases. In the five years to last month, prices for an average basket of food and non-alcoholic drinks increased by 23.4%, data from the Central Statistics Office shows. Raising the issue in the Dáil today, O'Callaghan said: 'Many families are now spending an extra €3,000 a year on their grocery bills and prices are still increasing. Anyone doing their weekly shopping will have noticed recently prices again beginning to soar.' 'Soaring food prices are something the government promised to address, Taoiseach. It's now been more than two years since Minister Neale Richmond organised his meeting with grocery retailers to discuss runaway prices,' O'Callaghan said, adding that this was something done only for 'optics'. 'He turned up, wagged his finger and everyone went home. Grocery prices are higher now than they ever have been so if you think that was a success it really hasn't been,' he said. Advertisement In 2023, then minister of state with responsibility for retail Neale Richmond convened a meeting with supermarket retailers over concerns of price gouging. At the time, he said the government did have the power to implement price caps, but that it did not want to go down that road. O'Callaghan today said there is no way to prove if supermarkets are price-gouging because they are not obligated to publish their profits. 'Given that people have to buy food, there's no choice on this, why isn't this a requirement for all supermarket retailers and chains,' he said. He called on the government to mandate that supermarkets publish their profits. In response, Taoiseach Micheál Martin claimed that the Irish government introduced one of the most significant cost-of-living packages in Europe following Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent inflation spike. He also pointed to other government measures, such as free school lunches, free school books and free public transport schemes for some students, as ways in which the government has been trying to support households with the cost of living. 'I can assure you Deputy, we understand fully the degree to which this is impacting people, households, families, but we've taken very effective measures, ones that even the Social Democrats didn't advocate for,' he said. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
