Michael Noonan (Limerick East, Fine Gael)
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Question 895: To ask the Minister for Education and Science if funding is available to a person who is doing an Open University degree course in the United Kingdom from their home here; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [14902/07]

Mary Hanafin (Dún Laoghaire, Fianna Fail)
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The statutory framework for the maintenance grants scheme, as set out in the Local Authorities (Higher Education Grants) Acts, 1969 to 1992, provides for means-tested higher education grants in order to assist students to attend full-time third level education. An approved course, for the purposes of the Higher Education Grants Scheme is, generally speaking, a full-time undergraduate course of not less than two years duration or a full-time postgraduate course of not less than one-year duration pursued in an approved third-level institution. The institutions approved under the Scheme, are, generally speaking, publicly funded third level colleges offering full-time courses at undergraduate and postgraduate level.

Similarly under the terms of the Free Fees Initiative, whereby the State meets the tuition costs of eligible students, an approved course is defined as a full-time undergraduate course of a minimum duration of two years in an approved third level institution. Courses provided by the Open University are not approved courses under the terms of the Maintenance Grant Schemes or the Free Fees Initiative.

However, Section 473A, Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, provides tax relief, at the standard rate of tax, for tuition fees paid in respect of approved courses at approved colleges of higher education including certain approved undergraduate and postgraduate courses in EU Member States and postgraduate courses in non-EU countries. Tax relief at undergraduate level extends to approved full/part-time courses in both private and publicly funded third level colleges in the State and any other EU Member State and approved full/part-time courses operated by Colleges in any EU Member State providing distance education in the State. Approved undergraduate courses must be of at least two years duration, and both the college and the course must satisfy the Codes of Standards as laid down by the my Department. Further details and conditions in relation to this tax relief are available from the candidate's local Tax Office.

An extension of the scope of the Free Fees Initiative or the Maintenance Grant Schemes to provide for students pursuing distance education courses, on a similar basis as currently exists for full-time students, could only be considered having regard to overall resource constraints and other competing demands in the education sector.