Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I will leave the memorandum of understanding to my colleagues who deal with Brexit and foreign affairs. However, we want legal certainty for students. A year and a half ago, I and my party suggested that we would unilaterally say that, at the very least, students resident in Northern Ireland would qualify indefinitely. Why can we not simply say that students resident in the North, as well as in the UK, will be entitled to the same status as every other Irish and EU student for the foreseeable future? We believe that would send out a positive signal and, in all likelihood, would be reciprocated. It would at least ensure that there is no hard educational border on this island for students.

I note the changes which will be made to the SUSI legislation, which has to happen. Will the bilateral agreement that the Department has in place remain regardless of the Brexit negotiations? Will any aspect of this bilateral agreement or the memorandum of understanding have to be legislated for? If so, will it have to be done before 29 March? What is the status of the memorandum of understanding in the context of a British crash-out and the EU stating it does not agree to aspects of it? Does it have to be run past the EU?

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