Jack Wall (Kildare South, Labour)
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Question 269: To ask the Minister for Education and Science the reason a person (details supplied) in County Kildare is being asked to pay fees for a course; the effect the stated payment would have in regard to the person graduating; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [37119/05]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The criteria for eligibility for the free fees initiative includes the provision that students who have pursued a course of third level study which has attracted Exchequer funding, for example, free fees, and who have not secured a terminal qualification and subsequently resume third level studies are not eligible for free fees for the equivalent period of time spent on the first course.

The operation of the free fees initiative is a matter for each third level institution in accordance with the guidelines issued by my Department. I understand that the student in question pursued first year of a course at the Institute of Technology Carlow and then entered first year of a course at the University of Limerick. As the student did not complete the course at the Institute of Technology Carlow, the student is liable to pay tuition fees for her first year at the University of Limerick.