Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Dolan. I want to say that Ireland is open for international education. Ireland is now part of the EU digital Covid system. As the Senator rightly said, the rules that are in place for anybody coming into the country also apply to international students. In many ways, there are more safeguards and checks in place for international students, because of the excellent work being carried out by our institutions, with our financial support.

On the English language schools, the provision of English language education presents a huge opportunity to our country, particularly in a post-Brexit context. Ireland can position itself as a leader in this area. That will require reforms, though. Many of these are being worked on my in my Department, including, crucially, the quality assurance mark. We are calling this the international education mark. One of my big priorities for the coming months is to make progress on the implementation of the international education mark, so that we can stand over the quality of English language teaching in Ireland. This will be helpful to our country, to the English language schools and, crucially, helpful to the students availing of English language schools.