A LARGE Belfast-based company with offices in Dublin and China has instructed solicitors after eight of its Chinese employees were refused permission to enter the State by immigration officers last week, despite having been issued with visas by the Irish Consulate in Shanghai.
It is understood gardaí believed the men intended to travel to Britain or Northern Ireland.
The workers are based at the Shanghai office of Alu-Fix Contracts, an aluminium installations firm that employs 380 people in Europe and Asia, and were to come to Dublin to be trained in specialist construction techniques.
However, on arrival at Dublin airport last Monday, all eight men were refused entry to the State by gardaí.
The Irish Times understands officers based their decision on a section of the Immigration Act 2004, which allows them to refuse someone permission to enter the State if satisfied the individual intends to travel to Britain or Northern Ireland. Gardaí also believed that the men had immigration histories in the UK.
Philip Young, Alu-Fix's managing director, said the employees were aluminium fitters who were coming to be trained by the Dublin team in specialist techniques for multi-storey buildings. They had secured their business visas through the Irish consulate in Shanghai and the company had paid for their return air tickets.
"They were told that they weren't getting in, and the reason they weren't getting in was because the guards believed they were going on to the UK. That's not true," Mr Young said.
"The guards said they had an immigration history in the UK, but they haven't been in the UK in their lives before. . . I'm very disappointed. We have a company in the South, and we pay taxes and all the rest of it."
He added that the company has in the past brought groups of employees for training in the UK, and that if it could not do so in the Republic it might have to reconsider its investment here.
Alu-Fix, which is the largest aluminium installations company in the UK, has offices in Belfast, London, Dublin and other cities in Europe and Asia. It operates as a subcontractor to a number of leading construction companies, and previous projects include the Odyssey Millennium project in Belfast.
Solicitors acting for Alu-Fix have written to the Garda National Immigration Bureau to clarify the reasons behind its decision to refuse the men entry to the State. A spokeswoman for the Department of Foreign Affairs said that the Irish Consulate in Shanghai was not aware of the incident at Dublin airport.
Last week, the association of recognised English language schools said inconsistent Garda immigration procedures were undermining Ireland's ability to compete in the lucrative market for foreign students.
