Young Palestinians offered a place by Irish universities shouldn’t lose that future because the mechanisms of a visa system can’t accommodate the reality of the place from from which they are applying.

Ahmed Abuhassan approached me because he knew I had some connections in Ireland and believed, perhaps generously, that I might carry some influence or have some special weight there. I don’t. I’m simply someone, like thousands, who has written and spoken about these issues and has been committed to keep putting Palestinian voices in front of people who might listen as they should.

However, there is something particularly painful about what I am now seeing in relation to Ireland because my family came from Kilkee in County Clare and Ireland has always been part of my family’s story. I grew up knowing that my parents, like so many Irish people of their generation, left Ireland and were accepted in another country and I have always understood that history as part of what shaped the Irish character – a people who knew what it meant to leave home, to be displaced, to seek a future elsewhere and to have their own history marked by conflict, political violence and the struggle for self-determination. That history is part of why I find what is happening particularly painful.

Ahmed isn’t alone. By August 2026, 31 of 59 Palestinian students who had secured fully or partially funded places at Irish universities had reportedly been refused study visas, according to RTÉ, Ireland’s national public-service broadcaster. However, for a significant proportion of them, the opportunity appears to stop at the visa office. Irish university teachers and politicians have now publicly raised concerns about the refusal rate and the grounds on which some of these applications have been rejected.

Ahmed’s story began with something that sounds completely ordinary; he needed to complete an English proficiency test. The test is the Duolingo English Test, which is recognised for Irish study visa purposes and there is nothing unreasonable about a university or immigration authority wanting an international student to demonstrate sufficient English to undertake higher education. Ahmed understood that formal evidence was required and set about providing it. He writes extensively and fluently in English, including for LinkedIn, but knew that his own ability was no substitute for the required test.

The Duolingo test requires a quiet and private space, a........

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