Joan Burton (Dublin West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

No, it is on the section. I seek an assurance from the Minister of State on an aspect of it. The section refers to, "education and training that reflect the needs of citizens, business, enterprise", and so on. Will she give an assurance that citizens within that meaning include people who are residents of the area as opposed to some precise constitutional meaning of a passport holder. The institutes of technology have a long tradition of catering for people who are residents of Ireland and who may well one day become citizens. They may be people who have refugee status, leave to remain in Ireland or another status but they are not technically a citizen. I seek reassurance that the word "citizen" in this context does not mean a passport-holding citizen of the Republic. I believe that must be the case because, under European law, these institutions would have to be open to people from other European Union countries.