05/07/2025
The Irish Times
Treatment of seriously ill Gaza children in Ireland stalls over visa concerns
Evacuations halted over sibling visas, with several on waiting list dying since scheme announced
So far, 12 sick children have been flown via Egypt to Ireland in two sensitive operations in December and May.
A plan to evacuate 18 seriously ill children from Gaza to Ireland for potentially life-saving treatment has stalled because of Government concerns about granting special visas to the children’s siblings.
Three people familiar with the ongoing mission to bring sick children from Gaza to Ireland have confirmed they were told that the next evacuation is on hold until the visa issue is resolved.
Several children who had been listed for treatment since the Government first agreed to start evacuating paediatric patients in 2024 have since died.
Last September, the Cabinet agreed to bring up to 30 sick children and their mothers or carers to Ireland for treatment. Children listed for treatment here are suffering from serious conditions like cancer and kidney failure.
So far, 12 sick children have been flown via Egypt to Ireland in two sensitive operations in December and May. These were co-ordinated by the World Health Organisation, several Government departments, the Health Service Executive, Children’s Health Ireland and the Red Cross.
The paediatric patients have been accompanied by either a mother or a carer, and 21 other accompanying family members. In several cases, it was recognised for humanitarian reasons that a sick child’s siblings could not be left behind in a war zone without a guardian. The Department of Health said all 45 Gazans, including mothers and siblings of paediatric patients, have received medical care for “illnesses incurred as a result of living conditions in Gaza”.
All have received Stamp 4 Visas, which grant them special permission to remain here for a specified time.
Concerns have emerged about awarding those visas to patients’ siblings between the departments of justice and health. One Government source said the medevac scheme is not operating “as it was intended to”.
Two sources who are familiar with the operation confirmed that they were told by officials in the Department of Health that the next evacuation cannot proceed until the visa issue is resolved.
Thomas Donnelly, a consultant orthopaedic surgeon at Temple Street Children’s Hospital, said he was one of a group of clinicians who held a meeting with the Department of Health about the medevac operation last month.
“We were told that no further evacuations would take place because of the disagreement about visas between the Department of Health and the Department of Justice,” he said.
“I specifically said that my waiting list is decreasing and no current patients would be affected by taking some of these patients on. Still, we were thanked for our ‘restraint’ and told there was nothing to be done because of the visa issue.
“Since then, children on our list to be evacuated have been killed and more will be killed while Government officials twiddle their thumbs. Only 12 children have been evacuated since the conflict began. This is shamefully low. We ask the Government to stop this needless delay asap so that these medical evacuations can resume.”
The Department of Justice said that there have been “no delays” in the “processing” of visas for the medevac scheme. The Department of Health said that it is “engaged with the Department of Justice in relation to visas for entry to Ireland, border control and registration for permission to stay in the State”.
Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald yesterday wrote to Minister for Foreign Affairs Simon Harris, raising concerns that only 12 of 30 sick children had been evacuated from Gaza so far.
“It is of real concern to me that the Government is not applying the urgency to which the situation demands in evacuating the remaining 18 of 30 patients – all of whom are vulnerable and in desperate need of treatment and care,” wrote Ms McDonald.
Evacuations halted over sibling visas, with several on waiting list dying since scheme announced
