Cathal Crowe (Clare, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

Do not worry, my wife is not listening. It was an incredible, fantastic three weeks. People come home with a skill set of Irish they would never acquire from a textbook but it is also about camaraderie and acquiring those skills as a teacher. Many students from Hibernia College have been in contact with us in recent weeks. This may not fall perfectly into the Minister's Department but he is responsible for higher education. It is morally wrong that they are being charged extortionate fees for a programme in which they will sit in front of a laptop. When I was in college we walked the highways and byways of the Gaeltacht. We had an immersive experience of the language and it enriched us as teachers. I ask the Minister and others to engage with Hibernia College in particular. There is a more substantive point to be made here. Students are grappling with their second semester of this academic year. I acknowledge that the Minister cannot intervene in all cases but colleges also need to reflect deeply on whether it is right to charge the same fees when the students do not have an on-campus experience. I would appreciate it if the Minister could comment on some of those issues.