Mary Mitchell O'Connor (Dún Laoghaire, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Senator Lawless for raising this important matter. I will try to answer the three questions he asked. The current position is that to qualify for funding towards tuition fees, students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia European Union, European Economic Area or Swiss nationality in their own right and have been ordinarily resident in an EU-EEA state or Switzerland for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to approved third level courses. Where undergraduate students do not qualify for free fees, they are required to pay fees to their higher education institute at either an EU rate or a higher non-EU rate.

The Department responded previously to concerns about the impact of the free fees eligibility criteria on individuals who have had to move abroad for occupational or economic reasons and which required them to take their children out of the Irish education system in the process. To this end, in March 2014 the Department of Education and Skills requested that the Higher Education Authority advise the higher education sector that full-time undergraduate students who hold EU, EEA or Swiss nationality but do not meet the residency clause of the free fees initiatives and have completed five academic years of study at either primary or post-primary in an EU or EEA state or Switzerland and commenced their undergraduate course of study in an approved institution here should, from the following academic year onwards, be charged an EU rate of fee rather than the higher non-EU rate by their higher education institution.This approach was implemented for new students from the commencement of the 2014-15 academic year. It is a matter for the institutions to apply this policy to such students and I am not aware of any particular issue arising from the implementation of this policy direction.

It is important to recognise that higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and the Department has a limited role in the day-to-day running of their operational affairs. It is an issue for higher education institutions in the first instance to determine the level of fee applicable to particular programmes or elements of academic programmes. The student contribution, which currently stands at €3,000, applies to all students who benefit under the Department's free fees initiative. This student contribution is paid by the Exchequer in respect of students who qualify under the Department's third level grant scheme. Tax relief is also available for second and subsequent siblings to alleviate the costs for families of approved courses at approved colleges of higher education.

In early 2018, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade commissioned a report, entitled "Economic Report on Addressing Challenges Faced by Returning Irish Emigrants". This report, which was undertaken by Indecon, identified education along with other issues - driving licences, health insurance etc. - as one of a number of factors influencing the return of emigrants. The report made a number of recommendations on addressing education-related barriers in respect of third level education, those being, to consider a means-tested third level grant for children of emigrants and to introduce increased flexibility for EU postgraduate fees. I have already spoken to the Ministers, Deputies Coveney and Donohoe, and the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, but we will shortly have a formal meeting to discuss these proposals in detail. The Minister of State will report to the Cabinet in the coming months.

The Department will consider the report's recommendations in the context of a broader programme of higher education funding reform. However, it is important to recognise that in implementing the free fees and student grant schemes, my Department needs to be conscious of the need for consistency in how individuals are treated and the potential financial and other policy implications arising from any specific proposal to make changes to either scheme.

I thank the Senator for affording me the opportunity to respond to the House. As to his question on whether we would be able to implement the report, I will meet the Ministers and Minister of State. We are taking this matter seriously and the Department is scoping it out. I will have to check as to whether primary or secondary legislation is required. As to the timeline, the meeting with the Ministers and Minister of State will take place after Easter and the Minister of State will report to the Cabinet in a few months' time.