Joe McHugh (Donegal, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Ar dtús, ba mhaith liom mo aitheantas a ghabháil chuig mo chomhghleacaithe sa Roinn Oideachais agus Scileanna fáchoinne an díograis agus an obair ar son an reachtaíocht seo, agus chuig Oifig an Ard-Aighne fosta agus an foireann uilig in Oifig na nDréachtóirí Parlaiminte don Rialtas. Táim tiománta chuig an chaidreamh idir an Bhreatain Mhór agus Éireann agus ar son an caidreamh Thuaidh-Theas fosta agus go háirithe an dualgas atá ormsa ar son Comhaontú Aoine an Chéasta agus an dualgas chuig an tsárobair atá déanta agus chuig an obair amach romhainn fosta. I thank the Dáil for the opportunity to explain the principal objectives of the proposed amendments to the Student Support Act 2011. I am joined by the Minister of State with responsibility for higher education, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, who will go through the specifics of the proposed amendments in her contribution.

There has been a shared education ecosystem between Ireland and the United Kingdom since the foundation of the State and even before that. It has been built over time through personal and professional relationships between educators North and South. As Minister for Education and Skills, I commend their dedication and commitment, and their work has laid a very solid foundation. We all owe it to these educators to protect and preserve that collaboration into the future. We all accept Brexit will bring change but education is one of many policy areas that has served to build understanding between communities, and it has contributed in no small measure to peace and reconciliation on the island. To put it simply, taking the measures such as those I propose today is in the interests of our young people and the quality of our education and training systems North and South.

Today I had the privilege of spending an important hour with young people from two schools, St. Dominic's on the Falls Road, Belfast and the Friends' School, Lisburn, and I acknowledge their contribution today. I put on record their frustration at the answers they do not yet have and cannot get on the outcome of Brexit. They were doubly frustrated as they do not have a vote and they also felt they had no representation. They felt they are relying on outcomes yet to be seen between Brussels and London. We clearly have a duty to ensure that generation of young people - those I met today were born between 2000 and 2002, after the 1998 Good Friday Agreement - can have their voices heard as we continue this journey into the unknown.

There are strategic partnerships, with Letterkenny Institute of Technology and Donegal Education and Training Board working closely with the University of Ulster and the North West Regional College to ensure further and higher education provision are closely aligned with the skills and industrial needs for the region. In many senses, the Border does not figure as these education institutions seek to develop a shared education and skills strategy. A memorandum of understanding was signed after the referendum in 2016 and although there is uncertainty, we can control certain elements. One of these is continued collaboration and the shared understanding that co-operation is important across the education spectrum.

This brings me to Part 5 of the Withdrawal of the United Kingdom from the European Union (Consequential Provisions) Bill 2019, which seeks to amend the Student Support Act 2011. The most recent statistics from 2017 and 2018 on cross-Border students flows indicate there were 2,120 students from southern Ireland studying in Northern Ireland higher education institutions. Of these students, 1,220, or 58% of the total, were pursuing undergraduate programmes. Interestingly, the number of southern Irish students has declined by approximately 40% in the seven years leading to 2017 and 2018. In contrast, the number of Northern Irish students studying in southern Irish higher education institutions has increased by 37% over the same time. Numerically, they stood at 1,328, with 1,073, or 81% of the total, pursuing undergraduate programmes.

This is only part of the picture. In 2017 and 2018, there were 10,070 southern Irish students in UK higher education institutions, with more than half pursing undergraduate programmes for the first time and a further 44% undertaking postgraduate studies. In the same year, there were 2,426 students from the UK in southern Irish higher education institutions, with 63% of these doing undergraduate studies. Not only were these students benefitting from EU fees status but many also are eligible for SUSI supports. This works in two ways; taking in Irish students heading to approved higher education institutions in the UK and UK students pursuing their studies in Irish universities and institutes of technology. In 2017 and 2018, 1,475, or 14%, of the southern Irish students attending UK higher education institutions were in receipt of a SUSI grant, amounting to €5.2 million. In terms of the number of UK students in southern Irish higher education institutions, 205, or 9%, were eligible for the SUSI grant. This amounted to €720,000.

The purpose of this amendment is to maintain this scenario. However, it is only one part of the decision to be addressed in the context of higher education post Brexit. There is the allied question of continued eligibility for EU fees for UK students. Both the Minister of State, Deputy Mitchell O'Connor, and I made an early decision in January of this year to confirm the maintenance of the status quoin 2019 and 2020 for UK students in Irish higher education institutions. This will continue of course for the duration of their programme. Notwithstanding this, I am anxious to bring clarity for the UK and Northern Ireland students for subsequent years. This was a point well made during our engagement with members of the Oireachtas Joint Committee on Education and Skills. This question will be addressed in the context of the common travel area and it is intended that the current arrangements will continue to apply. I am conscious that Deputy Funchion raised this matter today in the House.

The common travel area will address citizens rights across many policy areas but I am anxious resolve these, and specifically its importance for the education systems both North-South and east-west. My Department has worked intensively with UK counterparts and is in the process of finalising arrangements with the Department for Education in London. I am also working closely with my colleague, An Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade, Deputy Coveney, to conclude this process. I hope that I will be able to address this within the next few weeks and clarify the matter for all concerned. Both the Minister of State with responsibility for higher education and I view this amendment as one of the key responses from my Department to the challenges of Brexit. It will facilitate student mobility between southern Ireland, the North of Ireland and the wider UK, and it will enable me to meet education obligations under the common travel area.

I reiterate once again the responsibility and sense of duty we must have as legislators in this House to the Good Friday Agreement in all its parts. Having spent time with young people today who were born between 2000 and 2002, as I said, I know they are not familiar with what a hard border could look like and its consequences. We have an obligation and duty to ensure we protect that very fragile peace process, which is very much in its infancy despite the 21 years that have passed since it began. Arís, ba mhaith liom mo aitheantas a ghabháil chuig na Baill uilig den Teach seo fáchoinne an comhoibriú, for that co-operation, agus fáchoinne an gealltanas chun na rudaí atá déanta thar na blianta siar thart a chosaint agus chun a bheith ag amharc agus ag breathnú go dtí an todhchaí fosta, and to acknowledge all the work going on to protect what we have done in the past and to prepare the ground for the future.

I am reminded of the seanfhocal, ar scáth a chéile a mhaireann na daoine, we live in each others' shadow.

We owe it to the people who have come before us in this House and in different roles in civic society, people who have made sacrifices, who have lost a lot, who have lost family and who have suffered, to continue with the protection of the Good Friday Agreement. Tá an dualgas orainn uilig. There are responsibilities on all of us, not just on this island. Co-operation on an east-west basis is an integral part of the Good Friday Agreement agus táim iontach dearfach go mbainfear amach socrú amach anseo, go mbeimid ag dul ar aghaidh ar an mbealach ceart agus b'fhéidir go mbeidh an neamhchinnteacht socruithe amach anseo fosta.

See this speech in context