Abu Dhabi, where the Irish embassy noticed an exponential increase in applications for the family reunification scheme

The immigration services and the gardai have opened an inquiry into the abuse of an EU directive that allows foreign nationals to sponsor their families to live in Ireland under a reunification scheme.

The immigration authorities are encountering scores of applications from non-EU nationals who have already obtained residency rights in Britain, but claim to have moved to Ireland and wish to sponsor visas for their spouses, children and parents to move here.

Investigations by the Garda National Immigration Bureau (GNIB) and the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) have established multiple sponsors used similar addresses to lodge applications — indicating that criminal gangs and white- collar criminals are involved.

The authorities suspect that the majority of the family reunification applications being received are being