Jim Daly (Cork South West, Fine Gael)
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I will move to the second round of questions and will begin with some of my own. How does MRCI compile its figures? The 5,000 undocumented children in the State is the equivalent of the number in foster care in the State. I am fascinated by the clear demarcation between services that are available and those that are not. Can the children avail of foster care? How far are we going to protect these children? They can access national school and the Garda services but not the Ombudsman. Is there any move toward that? I know the Ombudsman is talking about children in reception centres. Can these children access the Ombudsman's services?

Deputy Jan O'Sullivan is the next speaker and she might be able to give us some insight from her time as Minister for Education and Skills. She was very involved in refugees accessing third level education. Was there any discussion at that time about undocumented people being able to access third level education? Have we made any progress on that issue?