Barry Andrews (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)

I am taking this adjournment on behalf of my colleague, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, Minister for Education and Science.

I propose to use this opportunity to outline to this House 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 and 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 Department's North-South co-operation unit manages the Department of Education and Science'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 of Education and Science formally engages with this Department 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 has responsibility for further, vocational and higher education matters as well as employment matters in Northern Ireland. The Minister, Deputy Batt O'Keeffe, wishes to reiterate what he clarified in this House when a similar motion was debated on 21 October 2008, namely, that the Department of Education and Science does not formally engage with the Department of Employment and Learning within the structures of the North-South Ministerial Council. As the Minister has explained, this is due to the provisions of the Belfast and St. Andrews Agreements, which designate the specific sectoral areas for co-operation. During that debate, the Minister also clarified that the Department engages in co-operative activities with the Department of Employment and Learning at official level on a number of issues and gave a number of examples.

Specifically on the issue of student supports for those pursuing university courses, the Minister undertook, within the parameters of existing liaison mechanisms with his Northern Ireland counterparts, to do all he could to make them aware of the concerns raised by the Senator. In that regard, the Minister asked his officials to relay those concerns to the Department of Employment and Learning.

Deputy Batt O'Keeffe also explained on the previous occasion that 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 are attending approved undergraduate courses in the State. The main eligibility conditions of the initiative are that students must be first-time undergraduates, must hold EU nationality or official refugee status and must 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.

There are no plans to extend the eligibility conditions of the free fees initiative to cover students attending third level institutions in Northern Ireland. With regard to eligibility for financial assistance under the student maintenance grant schemes, which are administered by the local authorities and the VECs on behalf of my Department, the position is that students who are 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 two years' duration and a full-time postgraduate course of not less than one year's duration pursued in an approved third level institution.

Applications for grant assistance under the student support schemes are submitted to the local authority or the VEC, depending on the type of course in question. Applicants undertaking undergraduate degree and postgraduate courses apply to their local authorities while those pursuing diploma-certificate and PLC courses apply to their relevant VEC. 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 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 with regard 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 most EU countries. Tax relief at undergraduate level extends to approved full and part-time courses in both private and publicly funded third level colleges in the State and any other EU member state and approved full-time 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 IT 31 form. Details of approved colleges and courses are also available on Revenue's Internet site. 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.

I thank the Senator for allowing me the opportunity to outline the position.