Éamon Ó Cuív (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

A concession has been granted to allow a student to do some casual work to help support himself or herself while here. The underlying principle regarding self-sufficiency is that the foreign national who is here on that basis would not need to avail of State funds or State-funded services, nor would any dependent family members allowed to enter the State require such State benefits. It is clear that having a child educated at the State's expense would be in breach of this requirement. However, an exception is made where the child is attending a fee-paying school on the basis that the parents are making a contribution to the costs involved.

The permission to come to Ireland is not independent from the conditions attaching to it. If students had the right to be accompanied by dependent family members who would be entitled to avail of State-funded services, it is almost certain they would not be allowed to enter in the first place.

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