Dáil debates
Tuesday, 20 October 2020
Ceisteanna (Atógáil) - Questions (Resumed) - Ceisteanna ar Sonraíodh Uain Dóibh - Priority Questions
Student Support Schemes
11:45 pm
Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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74. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on whether legislative change is required to ensure that all students who are long-term residents and or born here but who are not Irish, EEA, Swiss or UK nationals will be eligible for the free fees scheme to apply for SUSI grants and to be considered EU students in relation to fees; if he will undertake a review of the situation; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [31318/20]
Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The question asks the Minister his views on whether legislative change is required to ensure that all students who are long-term residents and-or born here but who are not Irish, EEA, Swiss or UK nationals will be eligible for the free fees scheme to apply for Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, grants and to be considered EU students in relation to fees; if he will undertake a review of the situation; and make a statement on the matter.
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I thank Deputy Barry for this question. This is an area I have taken an interest in since taking up office. The fee payable by a student varies depending on a variety of factors, including the type of course and the student's access route, including previous education. The Department of Justice and Equality adjudicates on a person's entitlements to remain in the State and on the stamp that is awarded where permission to remain is sanctioned, the granting of certain permissions to reside in the State conveys certain rights, as provided for in legislation, including access to education in line with the rights of an Irish citizen. However, some permissions do not convey such entitlements. Determinations of these permissions are a matter for the Department of Justice and Equality and outside the direct remit of my Department.
The free frees initiative and the SUSI support system have been adapted in line with the enactment of legislation, with the most recent changes following the introduction of the International Protection Act 2015. The rules of the respective schemes are cognisant of the importance of access to third level education. My Department also operates an administrative-based student support scheme for asylum seekers which provides supports along similar lines to the SUSI grant scheme. This scheme was introduced in 2015 and is available to persons who are asylum applicants, subsidiary protection applicants or leave to remain applicants. Following a review of the 2019 scheme, I announced in August an amendment of the rules and the objective to have that scheme placed on a long-term footing. These changes were welcomed by the Irish Refugee Council. The requirement for prospective applicants to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained the leaving certificate in the State will no longer be required. Prospective applicants, however, will still have to meet the requirement to have been in the protection or leave to remain process for three years. It is an important step but we need to do more.
To directly answer the Deputy's question as to whether legislative change would be required, I believe it would be based on what I have just set out. I also note the work of the advisory group on the provision of support. The Deputy will be aware that Cabinet considered that today and my understanding is it is likely to be launched tomorrow. My Department will be guided by the commitment in the programme for Government to publish a White Paper on international protection issues by the end of this year so I expect will make further progress on this, guided by said White Paper.
Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The issue is that there are young people in schools in this country who were born and have grown up in this country and who, because of a racist referendum in 2004 and the legislation introduced on foot of it the following year, do not have Irish citizenship. As a result of this, they do not have an automatic entitlement to free fees under the SUSI scheme. This may have been an academic question until now but some of those young people are now 15, knocking on the door of 16, and very soon will be wanting to go to college. The annual fee in University College Cork to do nursing is €4,106 for someone who is an EU national and €16,264 for someone who is not. These young people are going to be effectively barred in the vast majority of cases from a third level education unless something is done about this as a matter of urgency. Will the Minister comment on the situation I have outlined in that example?
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I will comment on it very clearly. I do not think it is fair or right and I want to fix it. My views on this are clear. I know one of the students the Deputy speaks of. It is the well-known case of Eric, the boy from Bray who some Department official thought it was a good idea to send him back of China. Eric had never been to China. He is as Irish as the rest of us but he was caught in this legal limbo situation. I agree with the Deputy that we need to address that as a country.
What I did almost immediately on taking office was to make changes to the student support scheme for asylum seekers, changes the Irish Refugee Council had sought for years and that have been welcomed. Do I believe that is the end of the matter? No. Do I believe we need to do more? Yes. How do I intend to go about that? My Department will feed into the development of the White Paper on international protection that the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will lead on and which will be published by the end of the year.
Mick Barry (Cork North Central, Solidarity)
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The Minister gave the example of Eric, which was a well-known case of about two or two and a half years ago involving a potential deportation. It may not apply to Eric directly but there are people in a similar situation to Eric who will face being effectively barred from going to third level education for financial reasons unless the law is changed. The Minister seemed to indicate it needs legislative change. The clock is ticking on this.
My supplementary question is on the issue of young people who were not born here but have grown up here and are part of Irish society and Irish communities. There is an estimated 2,000 to 6,000 undocumented children living in the State. Is the Minister open to the idea that legislative change would include rights in this regard, not just for children born in the State, but for people who have lived here for a number of years?
I have a Bill which specifies three years. Something of that kind is required. Will the Minister comment on that?
11:55 pm
Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I am the Minister with responsibility for higher education and believe that providing everybody with an opportunity to access higher education is a good thing. I believe there is a societal and economic good and that is where we should be trying to get to. Obviously, I have to fit my Department's work into a broader piece of work that needs to be done and was being done previously by the Department of Justice and Equality and is now to be done by the Department of Children and Youth Affairs, led by the relevant Minister, Deputy O'Gorman.
I met representatives of the Irish Refugee Council recently on this matter and we agreed to reconvene my discussions with them on the publication of the expert group report which, I understand, is due to be published tomorrow. I will make arrangements within the next four weeks to meet the Irish Refugee Council again in the light of the report of the export group and the work the Minister, Deputy O'Gorman, will be leading on the White Paper which is due to be published by the end of the year. I am conscious we are now in October so the White Paper is due to be published in the next eight or nine weeks. I will be happy to engage further with the Deputy then.