Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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234. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she will reverse the student service charge for apprentices attending third level colleges; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32436/14]

Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)
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237. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason apprentices are to be charged the students services charge of up to €1,433 per annum despite the fact that student services are not available to or availed of by apprentices, and despite the fact that apprentices are not full time students but rather are employees; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32507/14]

Clare Daly (Dublin North, United Left)
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243. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her plans to reverse the student service charge on apprentices. [32524/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 234, 237 and 243 together.

The Annual Student Contribution is levied on apprentices and students attending Institutes of Technology. This contribution has been levied by Institutes of Technology in respect of apprentices since 2004, with FÁS/SOLAS paying 70% of the contribution and apprentices themselves paying the remainder. As part of Budget 2014, SOLAS will cease making this payment to the Institutes of Technology and apprentices themselves will pay the full pro rata Annual Student Contribution.

From January 2014 up to the end of the academic year in June, apprentices paid €833 (1/3 of €2,500) per typical attendance block of 10 weeks. The exam fee is included in this payment. Apprentices pay the same contribution as students, apportioned for the time they spend in the Institutes.

Apprentices are paid a training allowance by SOLAS for phases of their training spent in Institutes of Technology. This allowance is equivalent to the wages they receive from their employers for on the job phases and is unaffected by the budgetary changes.

This decision was taken against a difficult budgetary background and there is no scope to re-visit it.