Mr. Keith Moynes:

The issue of agents is one of the trickiest. It is not only Ireland that experiences this. I was at a meeting more than a decade ago on this with other English-speaking countries. There will always be unscrupulous people who seek to prey on vulnerable people. There are places where agents are regulated. That is the case in Brazil, for example. There are places where they are coming from where they have greater protection. Obviously, many of them operate outside the State. The best we can do is to have two things: one is to have a sector that does not use them, that shares information and that is not in the business that uses this and the other is to have clear information for anyone who wants to come to Ireland about how they come here.

I do not think we will ever eliminate it. As recently as this year, the British Council was experiencing the same issues around agents. It is a constant, evolving issue, but the best thing we can do as a system is up our own game and minimise the extent to which people are exposed to the dodgy practices of some, but not all, as the Deputy acknowledged, of the operators. Reputable agents play a very important role as moderators in the sector, but there is a cohort that are dodgy, and it is about sharing information internationally, with colleges being alive to this and having integrity themselves.

Moreover, as Dr. Murray touched on, one model that was prevalent related to dodgy people owning both an agency and a language school. The due diligence process looking at the reputation and credibility of the people running a school will make it harder for people to act nefariously but, sadly, I do not think it will ever be impossible, and we just have to be alive to that.