Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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235. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost to remove all fees, including registration fees, for third level education. [32437/14]

Ruth Coppinger (Dublin West, Socialist Party)
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236. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the cost of abolishing fees including registration fees for all third level students normally resident here or here on student exchange programmes such as Erasmus. [32438/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 235 and 236 together.

The costs associated with the abolition of fees would be dependent on varying factors associated with type study i.e. full-time or part-time, undergraduate or post-graduate, varying fees associated with different course types and higher fees for international students.

The position is that the Exchequer meets the cost of tuition fees, through my Department's free fees schemes, in respect of full-time undergraduate students who meet the terms of the scheme, including those relating to nationality and residency. Some 129,000 students qualified for free fees in the 2012/13 academic year at a cost of over €326m. Students who qualify for free fees must pay the student contribution directly to their higher education institution which will stand at €2,750 for the next academic year. Some 50% of students who qualify for free fees have the student contribution paid on their behalf by the Exchequer under my Department's Student Grant Scheme.

My Department has no plans at present to extend the terms of the free fees schemes to other cohorts of students.