Members of a Nigerian cycling club who have been refused entry visas to take part in an international cycle race which starts in Dublin on Sunday are hoping that a last-minute appeal will succeed.
Five cyclists and three officials who say they are from the Lagos Cycling Club yesterday submitted additional documents to the Department of Justice in an effort to prove that they are legitimate.
The team members are hoping to take part in the FBD Milk Rás, an eight-day international cycling competition which has attracted a field of some 200 riders from at least 10 countries.
The event begins on Sunday, days after the Nigerian soccer team plays Ireland in a friendly match in Dublin.
The race's organiser, Mr Dermot Dignam, said he received an e-mail from the secretary of the cycling team in March requesting an invitation to the competition. The secretary subsequently forwarded €1,800 to Mr Dignam for accommodation deposits for the team.
At that time, Mr Dignam wrote to the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen, asking for his support for the team's visa applications. He wrote that the cyclists' participation would "help overcome negative racial attitudes" and benefit Irish-Nigerian relations. Mr Dignam yesterday appealed to the Department to reverse its original decision to refuse the visas.
In a letter to an official in the immigration and citizenship division, he said the letters of verification, supplied by the team from bodies including the Lagos State Sports Council, the Lagos State Government and the Cycling Federation of Nigeria, showed that it was "indeed legitimate and genuine".
"I don't want to criticise the Department in any way for checking up that things are as they are supposed to be, but certainly having received the letters today I don't see how the Department could refuse the visas without proof that the letters are forgeries," said Mr Dignam last night. He said the group had already booked flights for tomorrow.
The FBD Milk Rás will start at the GPO on Sunday, and competitors will cover an anti-clockwise course around the State of 1,200 kilometres, ending in the Phoenix Park on Sunday, May 26th.
The Department of Foreign Affairs has confirmed that the original visa applications made by the team did not meet with the requirements of the Department of Justice.
A spokeswoman for the Department said last night that it could not comment on individual cases. However, it is understood that there had been substantive questions about the club's bona fides.
In October 1999 a group of Romanians claiming to be members of a choir obtained visas to take part in a Sligo choral festival. Most of the 37-member group subsequently applied for asylum after failing to turn up at the event.