Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The purpose of this Government Bill is to protect our citizens and our economy from the worst impacts of a no-deal Brexit. As Minister of State with responsibility for higher education I am primarily concerned with our students and with ensuring they are not affected. I thank Dáil Éireann for this opportunity to explain the nature of the amendments proposed. I also thank my colleague, the Minister for Education and Skills, who has spoken about the wider context of why we have to change the Student Support Act 2011.

I am particularly keen to protect the excellent co-operation and collaboration between the further and higher education systems of Ireland and the UK. Thousands of students, teachers, staff and researchers benefit from this co-operation. The mobility of students and their continued access to support payments are central to the education ecosystem about which the Minister spoke. We must make some legislative amendments to underpin these key aspects of student mobility. It is important for Deputies to note that notwithstanding the nature of the UK exit, be it on the basis of a negotiated or a no-deal exit, the proposed amendments to the Student Support Act must be made. As things stand, the SUSI grant can only be paid to students studying within the EU. Once the UK leaves the EU it will become a third country. The proposed changes will allow the Minister for Education and Skills to prescribe certain categories of students, institutions and courses as approved for the purposes of the SUSI grant system. This will provide the Minister with the power to extend the SUSI grant scheme to a third country like the UK, post Brexit.

Broadly speaking, the amendments proposed are technical in nature. They have been designed to legislatively permit student support payments to continue to be made to eligible Irish students studying in the UK and UK students studying in Ireland. There are six sections in Part 5 of the withdrawal Bill, with the first section defining the principal Act of 2011, that is, the Student Support Act 2011. The second section defines a new concept of "relevant specified jurisdiction" within the Student Support Act 2011. This term defines a jurisdiction that the Minister may prescribe in order to extend the SUSI grant scheme to that jurisdiction. The definition will encompass a third country like the UK post Brexit and, should circumstances require it, Northern Ireland. The third section provides the Minister with the power to recognise certain publicly-funded higher education institutions in a "relevant specified jurisdiction".

The next section amends the criteria used by the Minister to determine that a course should be approved for the purposes of the SUSI grant. The amendment requires that it is recognised, for example, in accordance with the framework of qualifications in the "relevant specified jurisdiction" or, if such systems are not in place, then in accordance with the relevant arrangements, procedures and systems in that jurisdiction. The fifth section is designed to allow the Minister to prescribe a "class of persons", which is intended to allow the Minister to prescribe third country nationals like UK citizens post Brexit. It also recognises the right of UK students to enter the State as part of an arrangement such as the common travel area. The sixth and final section sets down the policies and principles that the Minister will have regard to when prescribing a "class of persons". This includes reciprocal arrangements and demands for certain skills of the economy.

As I previously mentioned, two main actions are proposed by these amendments. The first is that eligible Irish students may carry their SUSI grant with them as they pursue an "approved programme" in an "approved institution" in a "relevant specified jurisdiction". Second, "classes of persons", as prescribed by the Minister for Education and Skills, will be eligible for SUSI financial support while studying in Ireland. In effect, the Minister can prescribe UK citizens for the purposes of the SUSI grant scheme.

As the Minister mentioned, in 2017-18, almost 1,500 Irish students attended UK higher education institutions and received a SUSI grant, which amounted to €5.2 million. On the other side of the equation, there are just over 200 UK students in Irish higher education institutions eligible for the SUSI grant. This amounted to €720,000. These amendments will enable Ireland to maintain one of its key commitments under the common travel area, namely, the maintenance of the right to study in either jurisdiction but for me, it represents more than that. Last October, I was in Newry when the Southern Regional College became a member of the North East Further and Higher Education Alliance. This is a North-South collaboration, which also involves Dundalk Institute of Technology and further education colleges North and South. They are all working together in a respectful and equal partnership at a time when many of the students attending those colleges have grown up in peaceful times. As the Minister noted, we should remember that education and training providers have been to the forefront of building collaborations, both North-South and east-west. Now, more than ever, there is a very clear responsibility on all of us to ensure that collaborations such as the North East Further and Higher Education Alliance are facilitated. Any barriers to student mobility must be avoided. We must ensure that the hallmark of education is respect and inclusion and that at all times, we keep our primary focus on the needs of students.

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