Ciarán Cannon (Galway East, Fine Gael)

With regard to amendments Nos. 122 and 125 submitted by Senator Barrett, while all other fees in the Bill are paid by providers, there is provision for a fee payable by a learner for the making of an award by the authority and learners already pay fees to HETAC and FETAC for this service. It is proposed to retain this and I cannot support the amendment on that basis. It should be noted that there is no provision for tuition fees for learners as that is not a matter for the authority.

With regard to amendment No. 126, the section contains standard legislative provisions relating to the consumer price index. On that basis, I cannot support the proposed amendment.