Protests gathered outside the Department of Justice against the Government denying visas for a group of Palestinian students to take up scholarships at universities for this academic year.
Around 200 people protested outside the buildings at Dublin City centre yesterday.
The protest was organised by Trinity College Boycott, Divest and Sanction (BDS) movement and the NCAD students' union.
Chair of Trinity BDS, Sean Radcliffe said that Palestinian students have a right to be in Ireland as they met all the necessary requirements to receive approval.
"I'm calling Minister for Justice to grant visas to all fully funded Gaza students with places in our universities", he said. "They have met all the requirements, they do everything we ask of them".
"They need to be evacuated soon because the term starts in a few weeks, and they deserve to be here."
Minister for Justice, Jim O'Callaghan has received calls from the Labour Party and Social Democrats to carry out an urgent review of these refusals.
These refusals have been described as shocking by Labour Party leader, Ivana Bacik, and said that the reasons given for them are "far too dismissive of the conditions and circumstances" for which the students find themselves in, according to reports in RTÉ.
She also said that the reasons for these refusals included insufficient bank statements, and no demonstrated evidence that they will return to Gaza when they finish their studies.
This comes as figures shared by the Universities of Sanctuary initiative had revealed that 31 out of 59 Palestinians who applied for study visas, having secured fully or partially funded scholarships by Irish third level institutions were refused permission to enter Ireland.
The Universities of Sanctuary initiatives work in order to develop practices for welcoming asylum seekers or refugees into third level institutions, including University College Dublin (UCD), Trinity College, University of Limerick (UL) and the National College of Art and Design (NCAD).
"These are students from Gaza who have demonstrated academic excellence, who have been awarded scholarships from universities and colleges across the country, fully funded in most cases by those universities and colleges, and yet have now been refused at the last minute by the Department of Justice
"This is a shocking development, and the minister needs to conduct an urgent review", Ivana Bacik added.
"The numbers here today and the many more people who have contacted me show the depth of feeling - people feel passionately that we need to stand in solidarity with students from Gaza who want to come and study here".
Social Democrats Senator, Patricia Stephenson said that students from Gaza are "being denied the chance of escaping a warzone and the opportunity of higher education", adding: "This situation has now moved beyond frustrating and into the realm of the indefensible".
The Department of Justice, Home Affaires and Migration have said in a statement that each visa application is decided on its own merit, irrespective of nationality.
"In common with the position for all non-EU nationals, entry of Palestinian nationals is undertaken through the existing legal immigration pathways available", they said.
They added that Palestinian nationals must carry a valid Irish visa before they apply to enter the State and that 41 student visas were granted to Palestinian nations so far this year. (All quotes in this piece, according to RTÉ).
