The students in question submitted their applications in line with requirements set out in previous years, this being the third year that Irish universities have offered scholarships to students through these arrangements.

This year, however, students have been met with an inconsistent approach. Some students were refused visas on the basis of documents they had never been asked to provide. When they attempted to obtain and submit the additional documents, they were instructed to appeal using their original documents and send them by post – an impossible requirement for students in Gaza, where there is no functioning postal service.

Others were asked to surrender their passports to the embassy and were informed that an evacuation was expected in July. However, the embassy confirmed to them in writing that it had no role in the decisions and that responsibility rested with Dublin.

The consequences of these decisions have extended beyond Ireland with some students have applied to universities in other countries having their applications refused because of their Irish visa refusals.

Sinead Marmion, partner at Phoenix Law said “Palestinian students is Gaza have been refused visas because they cannot provide documents that the genocide has made impossible to obtain. The State cannot apply ordinary visa requirements as though these were ordinary circumstances. We are asking that the minister urgently determine these appeals, applying flexibility and discretion in a fair and lawful way.”

Momen, a 27 year old student from Gaza said:  “I carried my certificates through displacement because I believed I would survive and continue my journey. Now, a visa refusal is keeping me from the future I fought so hard to reach.”

Shahd, displaced more than 20 times, now living in a tent, said: “After finally receiving a fully funded scholarship, I believed I had reached a point where I could move forward. The visa refusal made me feel as though that opportunity had suddenly been taken away,” she added, “Every additional day in Gaza is not simply another day of waiting. It is another day in which my life is on hold.”

The justice minister, Jim O’Callaghan, was put on notice of potential legal action in relation to the student visas in August.