Malcolm Byrne (Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Acting Chairman for notifying me of that in time and I thank the Minister of State for coming in to address this issue. One of the most frightening phrases I have discovered since coming into this House is being told a matter falls between a number of Departments or agencies. The issue of international students’ health insurance unfortunately is one of those that seems to fall between the Department of Health and the Department of Justice, and there is an interest on the part of the Department of Further and Higher Education, Research, Innovation and Science.

International students are important to this country, as the Minister of State is aware. They enrich the fabric of our higher education institutions and we are fortunate we have top-class higher education institutions here that can provide international education. As a result of a court challenge and case taken by the Health Insurance Authority, a student who comes to this country to study for longer than a year is deemed ordinarily resident here. The problem is he or she is no longer able to avail of the discounted health insurance of which such students, who for the most part are healthy individuals, are able to avail. This is a huge cost for international students and it has been a problem I have signalled in this House for well over a year. I have a Bill before the House which I would hope we could move to Second Stage, but rather than us having to deal with it through legislation, I would prefer that a decision would be taken on the part of Government to resolve this matter.

It is something that is of great concern to international students, the Irish Council for International Students, the Union of Students in Ireland and the higher education institutions themselves. They have all raised this as a matter of concern for well over a year. My frustration reflects their frustration that we have not been able to see a resolution from Government. It is a relatively small issue in the overall scale of things.There are a number of potential solutions. We should be able to come to a solution to ensure students have the necessary cover while, at the same time, ensuring the cost of it is not prohibitive.

I have raised this matter with Ministers in various different Departments. I have raised it with the relevant civil servants, who, in fairness, have tried to resolve it. It is well over a year since this issue first came to public attention and I cannot figure out why we do not have an answer from the Government. I appreciate international students are not travelling to the same extent because of Covid-19 but in the new year, our higher education institutions will be encouraging international students to come to Ireland and we, as a Government, need to be clear about what measures are going to be in place for their health cover. I am disappointed this issue has been running for so long. I hope the Minister of State will be able to provide us with some information as to progress today.