A meeting of Kosovo-born nationals, many of them former refugees and now Irish citizens, in Tralee on Wednesday night heard how relatives of those who are now Irish citizens are being refused short-term tourist visas here.
About 350 of the fewer than 1,000 Kosovars in Ireland reside in Tralee. Most of the Tralee Kosovars are former programme refugees or their children who were invited to Ireland in 1999 during the war in Kosovo. A substantial number are entitled to vote in the next general election.
Mimoza Kusari, executive director of the American Chamber of Commerce in Kosovo and spokeswoman for former prime minister Bajram Rexhepi, told the Tralee group Kosovo was now quite stable. However, the potential of the Kosovar diaspora had not been fully tapped, she said.
"The aid and remittances you send back is crucial, but if you want to help Kosovo, please invest," Ms Kusari said.
Others spoke of their gratitude to the Irish. "We remember 1999 very well. We were so much welcomed. The welcome was much more than we could expect. Irish people should know this - we will never forget that," one man said.
The meeting heard it was difficult for relatives to visit, even in cases where mothers of young families here fell ill, as they were not being given tourist visas. "The visa you are looking for is short-term tourist visa. Irish people pride themselves on strength of family and we should be able to extend that to those of you who are here long-term," Mayor of Tralee Norma Foley said.
Ms Foley, who is a Fianna Fáil candidate in the general election, was also mayor when the Kosovars arrived in 1999 and she and Cllr Terry O'Brien, the Labour candidate, received presentations from the Tralee group.
Valerie Hughes of the Kosovo-Ireland Solidarity Group said she receives "a lot" of calls from people who have experienced family reunification problems. "There are serious cases which haven't been resolved both in Tralee and elsewhere."