Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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I thank the Minister, the Minister of State and the officials for coming before the committee. My fundamental question is why the Minister is not in a position to indefinitely allow people born on the island of Ireland, particularly Northern Ireland, to be treated the same as EU students going to college on a unilateral basis? Is this envisaged? It will be the case for students starting next year but not for students starting the following year. I suggested some time ago we could just do it unilaterally and, hopefully, the British would do the same. There is already a chilling effect on the movement of students on this island and east-west movement because they cannot plan for the future and many of them are making plans at present. May I ask supplementary questions later?