Billy Lawless (Independent) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Cathaoirleach for selecting this Commencement matter. I also thank the Minister of State, Deputy Damien English, for attending.

In 1995 the then Government decided to abolish undergraduate fees for Irish and other EU students. The scheme was generally referred to as the free fees initiative. Fees were cut by 50% in 1995 and eliminated thereafter. In announcing the introduction of free fees in Ireland on 9 February 1995 the then Minister, Niamh Bhreathnach, expressed to Dáil Éireann the universality dimension to what was a radical change in third level education in the State. She stated, "An education system which will no longer decide on behalf of its students what is a right and what is a privilege is an education system which aspires to include all the needs of the community." She went on to express the intent behind the free fees initiative, which has stood to this very day:

Education is the most pervasive and sustained interaction between the child, the family and the State and I believe that it is the most important such relationship. The importance of the individual child is central to my vision of education.

I agree wholeheartedly with the sentiments expressed by the then Minister in 1995 and the continuation of the free fees initiative by successive Ministers for the past 20 years, but I cannot stand over how the scheme does not cherish all of Ireland's children equally. Article 2 of the Constitution reads:

It is the entitlement and birthright of every person born in the island of Ireland, which includes its islands and seas, to be part of the Irish Nation. That is also the entitlement of all persons otherwise qualified in accordance with law to be citizens of Ireland.

It is the final passage of Article 2 which is crucial that I would like the Minister of State to consider: "Furthermore, the Irish nation cherishes its special affinity with people of Irish ancestry living abroad who share its cultural identity and heritage". How can it be said the free fees initiative includes all of the needs of the community when the very community the entitlement of which is enshrined in the Constitution will actually be discriminated against should its members wish to obtain a third level education in this country? I ask the Minister of State to consider how his Department, the Higher Education Authority or the third level colleges for which his Department provides block grants can determine that an Irish citizen who has resided in Ireland for at least three years is more worthy of access to the third level education system than an Irish citizen who has lived abroad. It is constitutionally inappropriate that Irish citizens abroad are discriminated against in such a manifest fashion in the delivery of third level education services. Irish citizens abroad are no less Irish than the Minister of State or me. If they determine that they wish to study in Ireland, they will pay VAT on the products they purchase, tax on any part-time income they generate and, no doubt, a few quid for the beer they drink, like any other student. In return for the same contribution their fellow Irish citizens make to the State, they will not, however, be entitled to the same level of support for the education services to which, as citizens of the State, they are entitled.

An obstacle faced by children of emigrants to the United States is the American citizenship or permanent resident rule that applies to many scholarships to colleges in the United States. Many of the children concerned are consequently prohibited from applying for these scholarships as they are not US citizens. Therefore, they find themselves in the unenviable position of being disadvantaged by the citizenship requirement in the country in which they reside and the residency requirement in the country of which they are citizens, namely, Ireland. This double disadvantage leaves them in an educational limbo.

I have seen at first hand the commitment the Government has made to the diaspora, to which in many ways my appointment to the Seanad is testament, but I cannot see how, as a matter of basic fairness, the Minister can justify this form of discrimination against those very citizens in respect of whom it is the stated policy of the Government to foster deeper ties and relations. At a time when walls are being built on the other side of the Atlantic, why would the State not want to attract the best and brightest back to Ireland and bring them through the third level education system in order that they could be the nurses, doctors, engineers and scientists of the future? On behalf of all Irish citizens, be they living abroad or at home, I implore the Minister of State to uphold Government policy, respect the Constitution and put an end to the continuation of this discriminatory practice in the administration of the free fees initiative in third level institutions.