Cecilia Keaveney (Fianna Fail)

I thank the Minister of State, Deputy Barry Andrews, for taking this issue on the Adjournment tonight. I am raising the proposal to increase fees in the Northern third level institutions and the impact this will have on Border students, particularly in Donegal. I declare my interest by saying that I spent seven years at the University of Ulster, Jordanstown. Students from Donegal tried to go to the colleges nearest to us and I was facilitated by the fact that we had no fees here and there was none there. Subsequent to my finishing college there was a gradual imposition of fees in the North and that has had a considerable impact as regards the availability of those colleges to southern students. While I say "southern students", Donegal is part of the province of Ulster so it is a strange term in that sense.

The Minister of State has recently received a report to the effect that the nine year olds are happy, content and physically active. I would like to believe that at the other end of the spectrum, when they are leaving as opposed to just starting in the school system, we would look at the economic impact. The north west is a region that continually needs high skilled graduates. We believe there is a great workforce there and great opportunities, but like the rest of Ulster, there is no great impetus as regards employment and people being able to stay in the area. If a person attends college in a particular area, he or she tends to stay there on graduating. Ulster, which has nine counties, needs the drive of people educated in the area, with no brain drain from there. People might say that we may have fees here in the next year or two, but the problem is how to deal with the realities of the moment.

The reality is that there are fees in the North, which make it less available to students and they have to leave their own areas to attend college in Dublin, Cork or Galway. The Northern institutions are trying to introduce fees for higher rather than further education whereby southern students, that is, students from the Republic, will be asked to pay fees. That was resisted by me and others as it seemed to be unconstitutional, and it had to be withdrawn.

However, under the Good Friday Agreement some students in Ireland have to pay fees while others do not. There is also the situation whereby when these students go to the colleges, they are not eligible for bursaries. Surely bursaries should be for students, for example, the people gaining the best results or whatever. It should be emphasised that the Minister for Education in the North is not actually in charge of the universities, which come under Sir Reg Empey, MLA, who is Minister for Employment and Learning. That is another difficulty and I know Mr. Mervyn Storey, MLA, chairman of the education committee, recognises that there is no continuity in their system between second and third levels.

The reason I am pushing this is that some of the colleges are within 15 miles of where I live and where my constituents live. For that reason they do not get the full grants. They then apply for a bursary, to be told that because they are from the Republic, they are not eligible. Fees are imposed on them, which, it seems, will increase in the next academic year. The students will then be faced with the choice of whether to stay local to graduate, with the idea that they should remain in the area and be employed there, or take the option of going elsewhere. They can choose to attend college in the Republic. I emphasise that we have an excellent institute of technology in Letterkenny, which is going from strength to strength. It is accredited to grant third level degrees, but not all courses are available. In an all-Ireland post-Good Friday Agreement context, people from the nine counties of Ulster must go to Scotland because there are no fees there. They then tend to stay in Scotland or elsewhere in the UK and do not return to Ireland. The purpose is self-defeating. The Minister, Sir Reg Empey, has launched a review of the hardship some students are facing.

I raise this adjournment motion tonight to ask that we make an input to that review, to put forward the case that there are serious impacts financially for students from Donegal and the rest of the Border counties in going into the North. It is to the detriment of the universities there as well as to the economy of Ulster into the future. While there is an ongoing review, there should not be talk about increasing fees, particularly when the supports for students are not there. The review will consider the hardship for those students. Donegal and other Border county students are being denied bursaries and I ask whether they are welcome in Northern third level institutions, which are responsible for allocating them, as distinct from the various educational departments in the North.

I leave it to the Minister of State to ask whether there is potential for us to make an input into Sir Reg Empey's review and to accept and realise that our students are a valuable addition to the Northern colleges and should not be deterred from attending them, as appears to be happening.