Olwyn Enright (Laois-Offaly, Fine Gael)
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Question 622: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if a person who has been granted asylum or leave to remain here is entitled to be treated as an Irish or EU national when it comes to third-level education with particular reference to third-level fees and entitlements to the grant system; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [34368/06]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of the Higher Education Grants scheme grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding, including those which relate to nationality, residency, means and previous academic attainment.

The Nationality requirement as set out in Clause 4.5 of the Higher Education Grant Scheme 2006 states candidates must: hold E.U. Nationality; or have Official Refugee Status; or have been granted Humanitarian Leave to Remain in the State; or have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to an Irish national residing in the State or be the child of such person, not having EU nationality; or have permission to remain in the State by virtue of marriage to a national of another EU Member State who is residing in the State and who is or has been employed, or self-employed, in the State, or be the child of such a person, not having EU nationality; or be nationals of a member country of the European Economic Area (EEA) or Switzerland.

Candidates who do not satisfy the nationality requirement as outlined are ineligible for funding under the terms and conditions of the Scheme. There are no plans at present to extend the nationality clause of the student support schemes. Any extension to the scope of the maintenance grants scheme can be considered only in the light of available resources and in the context of competing demands within the education sector.

Under the terms of my Department's Free Fees Initiative the Exchequer meets the tuition fees of eligible students. The main conditions are that students must be first-time undergraduates and hold E.U. nationality or official refugee status and have been ordinarily resident in an E.U. Member State for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course.

The residency requirement applies to all E.U. nationals, including Irish nationals, in accordance with the judgement of the European Court of Justice that access to vocational training must apply equally to all E.U. nationals. In the case of students with official refugee status, time spent from date of official lodgement of application papers for refugee status is included for the purpose of meeting the three year residency requirement.

There is a distinction between the criteria that determine eligibility under the Free Fees Initiative, and the criteria by which individual third level institutions establish what rates of tuition fees should be charged, in cases where a student does not qualify for free fees. The universities are autonomous bodies and, as such, may determine the level of fees to be charged in any case where the Free Fees Initiative does not apply.