Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

There are restrictions on access to courses by persons who have lived outside the EU for a considerable period. The difficulty we face in arranging rules of access is that any such rule must apply to all EU citizens equally. The restriction that is in place has strictures which are uniformly applied. I will consider the case raised by Deputy Healy-Rae but there are difficulties in regard to people who have spent an extended period outside the country accessing third level because the rules must apply uniformly to all EU citizens.

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