Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I take the point the Deputy is making. I was answering the broader question about timetabling for students in Irish higher education institutions. While I do not mean this about the Deputy or her interpretation of this, I think the issue of English language schools has been somewhat misrepresented. What we are saying about English language schools is in line with the public health advice that we have about increasing summer provision of further and higher education. I said in my opening statement that as we prepare for a broader resumption of further and higher education in general in September, we are allowing a little more to happen over the summer months, whether in laboratories, apprenticeships or research.

Regarding English language schools, many students who already came to Ireland in good faith have been left somewhat stranded. I am not blaming anyone. They came to Ireland to learn English but because of Covid, they were not able to access lessons because schools were closed. We have a duty of care to them. While the Deputy gave a figure of 10,000 students, the average number in a class here is seven. We are talking about far fewer students than were ever in a primary or secondary school class. I am not telling the English language schools that they must open. They may opt to remain closed. They may opt to provide blended learning or to continue to operate wholly online.

The resumption of in-person activity is subject to there being no deterioration in the public health situation or changes to public health advice, which I have yet to receive. We see this as a small, cautious, conservative stepping stone on a pathway to broader recovery. A voluntary moratorium on recruitment of new students has been in place. I do not want to see new students recruited into the English language education sector at present. I would like us to get to that point but we are not there yet. If there were breaches of that, I would view that seriously. I would view it as a breach of faith regarding the agreements that we have with the sector and I would act accordingly. The Deputy knows that I am going to say that the visa issue is a matter for the Minister for Justice, because it is. I would not like to see any student lose out or face alterations to visa terms and conditions as a result of not being able to attend a lecture due to an underlying health condition. I will pursue that directly with my colleague, the Minister for Justice, on foot of the Deputy's representation.