Chinese national with UK permanent residency requires visa to travel to Ireland?

Background: I'm an Irish citizen; my girlfriend is a Chinese citizen; we both live and work in London UK; she has a permanent residence card to remain in the UK.

My girlfriend would like to visit my family in Ireland for Christmas, and we're worried we've left it a little late to apply for a tourist visa for her. I'm trying to figure out if she will actually need a visa, but I'm having trouble interpreting the legislation.

Based on this answer, and, by extension, this statute, it seems that Chinese nationals visiting the UK with a valid UK visa are eligible to visit Ireland.

(d) until 31 October 2016, United Kingdom visitors who are nationals of a state or territorial entity specified in Schedule 3 and where the intended purpose of the travel to the State by the United Kingdom visitor concerned is solely for a visit of the shorter of the following periods -

(People's Republic of China does appear in schedule 3)

Where I'm confused is whether or not a permanent residency card counts as a visa, and whether a permanent resident in the UK counts as a "visitor". If not, it would seem that this clause does not apply, and she would need a tourism visa. On the other hand, if she does count as a visitor to the UK, does that mean she doesn't need a visa for Ireland?