Mr Justice Barr quashed the minister’s decision refusing Ms Abudalu a long stay student visa, remitted her application for fresh consideration, and directed that a new decision be delivered within 10 working days.

Ms Abudalu is 20 years old and has lived all her life in Gaza. On 23 March 2024 a large explosion outside her grandparents’ home, where her family had fled after their own house came under fire, killed her mother, her twin sisters, her brother, her grandparents, her aunt, three cousins and a cousin’s young daughter. She was pulled from the rubble and could not walk for a month. Only she and her father survived. Despite this, she scored 96.7 per cent in her final school exams and achieved a grade point average of 92.82 per cent in her first year of artificial intelligence engineering at the Islamic University of Gaza.

In June 2026 Ms Abudalu was offered a place to study engineering at University College Cork with a full scholarship covering her flights, fees, accommodation, health insurance and living expenses. Justice minister Jim O’Callaghan refused her visa on 16 July 2026. In the proceedings he accepted that the decision wrongly stated that she had not submitted a financial summary form, and conceded on the second day of the hearing that her English language certificate and supporting letter from UCC had never been put before the decision-maker (despite being sent as part of her 
application). The court held that these errors were not minor and went to a substantial part of her case.

The court rejected the minister’s argument that Ms Abudalu should be confined to a statutory appeal that would not be decided until around September 2027. It found that this would cost her the current academic year, put her UCC place and scholarship at risk, keep her in Gaza for a further year, and continue to block a separate scholarship offer from the University of Edinburgh. The court noted that an assisted evacuation flight is scheduled for 23 November 2026, and that a prompt positive decision may allow her to be on it.

Sinéad Marmion of Phoenix Law, solicitors for Ms Abudalu, said: “The High court has recognised that our client’s application was refused on the basis of serious errors, and that she could not fairly be left to wait a year in Gaza for an appeal. Shaymaa has survived the unimaginable. She 
has lost almost all of her family, and every day she remains in Gaza is a day of real danger.”

Alannah Faulkner of Phoenix Law added: “The court has set a clear timeframe for a fresh decision so that she can be on the evacuation flight on 23 November and take up her place at UCC this year. We now look to the Minister to act swiftly and in the spirit of the court’s judgment, so that this young woman can finally begin her studies in safety.”

Ms Abudalu commented: “I am so grateful to the court and to everyone who has stood by me. Through everything I have lost, my studies
have kept me going. I hope that very soon I will be able to leave Gaza safely and continue my studies in Cork, and make my family proud.”