Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Deputy. I was merely stating that issues relating to immigration policy are matters for the Department of Justice. I agree with the Deputy that issues relating to widening access to education are very much the responsibility of my Department. We do not shirk that nor do we pass it to any other Department. The approach I take is that it is always of benefit to provide access to education for people in our country regardless of nationality, circumstances, background, gender or any other matter. We have already taken a number of steps to do that. I accept that we need to do more. Dr. Catherine Day's report also broadly indicates we need to do more. We could do more on the area the Deputy has identified. I will try to rectify this and I look forward to receiving his email. I am happy to keep in close contact with him on this.

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