Mary Wallace (Meath East, Fianna Fail)

I thank the Senator for raising this issue as it affords me the opportunity to outline the formal structures for co-operation in the education sphere between the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Education in Northern Ireland. More specifically, it gives me the opportunity to outline existing arrangements under the Department's third level student support schemes relating to students from this State who undertake courses in Northern Ireland.

The general context is that the North-South co-operation unit in the Department of Education and Science manages the Department's funding and co-ordinates co-operation activities within the education sector with the Department of Education and the Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland. The Department of Education in Northern Ireland has responsibility for all school and youth-based education matters in Northern Ireland. The Department formally engages with the Department of Education in Northern Ireland at ministerial level on co-operation issues under the auspices of the North-South Ministerial Council in four main areas: special education needs, educational underachievement, teacher mobility and school and youth exchanges. The Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland has responsibility for further, vocational and higher education matters as well as employment matters in Northern Ireland.

The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe has asked me to clarify that the Department does not formally engage with the Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland within the structures of the North-South Ministerial Council owing to the provisions of the Belfast and St. Andrew's agreements which designate the specific sectoral areas for North-South co-operation. However, the Department engages in co-operative activities with the Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland at official level on a number of issues.

Some years ago, the Department of Education and Science and the Department of Employment and Learning in Northern Ireland co-funded and collaborated on a series of conferences dealing with higher education issues. The themes of those conferences were Ireland as a centre of excellence in third level education; international education, a capacity builder for the island of Ireland; widening access to higher education on the island of Ireland; cross-Border higher education co-operation in Ireland and Europe; higher education and business, beyond mutual incomprehension; and what role for higher education in the development of the 21st century workplace.

Regarding student supports, the Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe would like to indicate that within the parameters of existing liaison mechanisms with Northern Ireland counterparts, he will do all he can to raise awareness of the concerns raised by Senator Keaveney. Under the Department's third level free fees initiative the Exchequer meets the tuition fees of eligible students, including those from Northern Ireland and other EU member states, who attend approved undergraduate courses in the State. The main eligibility conditions of the initiative are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold EU nationality or official refugee status and have been ordinarily resident in an EU member state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course.

Regarding eligibility for financial assistance under the student maintenance grant schemes which are administered by the vocational education committees, VECs, students entering approved full-time courses for the first time are eligible for grants where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. An approved course for the purpose of the third level maintenance grant schemes means a full-time undergraduate course of not less than two years' duration and a full-time postgraduate course of not less than one year's duration pursued in an approved third level institution. Further information on grants and the schemes can be accessed on the Department's website at www.studentfinance.ie.

The third level student support schemes extend to undergraduate study in Ireland and the EU and postgraduate study in Ireland, including Northern Ireland. Any extension of the current arrangements to provide for students pursuing postgraduate courses outside of the island of Ireland could only be considered in the light of available resources and other competing demands within the education sector. There are no plans to expand the provisions in the grant schemes in relation to study abroad.

Section 473A of the Taxes Consolidation Act 1997 provides tax relief, at the standard rate of tax, for tuition fees paid in respect of approved courses at approved colleges of higher education, including certain approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in EU member states and postgraduate courses in non-EU countries. Tax relief at undergraduate level extends to approved full or part-time courses in both private and publicly funded third level colleges in the State and any other EU member state and approved full or part-time courses operated by colleges in any EU member state providing distance education in the State.

Tax relief on tuition fees is claimed directly from the tax office using an IT31 form and the details of approved colleges and courses are also available on the Revenue Commissioner's website. Approved undergraduate courses must be of at least two years' duration, and both the college and the course must satisfy the codes of standards as laid down by the Minister for Education and Science with the consent of the Minister for Finance.

Again, I thank the Senator for providing me with the opportunity to address the House on this matter and to outline the current position here. We will bring the Senator's concerns to the Minister's attention on his return.