392 Ms Fox asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform if his attention has been drawn to the fact that there are significant difficulties and delays in securing visitors visas for genuine visitors at a time when overseas visitors numbers are in decline; if he will liaise with the Minister for Arts, Sports and Tourism to streamline this system in the interests of justice and tourism; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [17733/03]

In recent years there has been an unprecedented escalation in the numbers of applications for Irish visas. As an indication, the number of visa applications determined by the visa officers of my Department increased from 12,201 in 1997 to 24,334 in 2000 and 38,001 in 2002, an increase of 211% over the past five years.

In June 2002, my Department took the unprecedented step of seconding a number of visa officers to the Irish embassies in Beijing and Moscow. A primary objective of this initiative was to enable the provision of a better and more timely customer service by making decisions locally rather than having large numbers of visa applications sent to Dublin for decision. Extra resources were also allocated to the visa section in the Department in recent months to cater for the increasing volume of visa applications.