Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I do not have the numbers for the specific question but I have a number that is interesting. The number of people who applied under the administrative student support scheme for asylum seekers this year is at 86, as of 12 October. That is more than have applied and have been successful in the past five years put together. Over the past five years the figure was 79, from 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019, that is in those five academic years. In this year alone it has been 86 which is a welcome improvement. I have no doubt that this will become more of an issue because there have been a number of children affected by a referendum on citizenship that I did not and would not have supported. The changes from that have left many children here in our country who could very well have fallen into that category. They have been brought up in this country and are as Irish, in my view, as I or the Deputy is. When these people reach college age they will not, as things currently stand, have an entitlement to free fees. We need to look at that.

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