Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

The DkIT cross-party Oireachtas Members meeting must happen and I put it on the record of the House that it will get under way quickly. The transcript will act as an aide-memoireon that.

On the question of students coming from Ukraine and my Department's responsibility in that regard, the Deputy raises an important point. My Department's responsibilities will largely arise in four areas. These include English-language supports and ensuring we have provision for anyone who comes to this country to access English-language provision. We are working to ramp that up and we have a good network and structure in place already to ensure we can meet demand there.

We will treat any student who comes here from Ukraine the same as an Irish student in terms of access to student supports and not being subjected to international fees and the like. That is a commitment I give now. The Department will also ensure the continuance of education for anybody in the middle of a programme, including Irish students in Ukraine and returning. We are working our way through that but we will meet that goal.

The fourth element is important in the area of skills, as we will provide a personal assessment to anybody coming into the country in respect of his or her own skills and how they may match with qualification frameworks here. It is about ensuring that such people can access the labour market too.

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