Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 234: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if there are specific policies in place in the areas of education and training towards the enhancement of employability skills for migrants; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22503/10]

Paul Gogarty (Dublin Mid West, Green Party)
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Question 235: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if there are specific policies in place directed towards migrants who have become unemployed in the current economic climate to assist them in finding new employment; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [22504/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 234 and 235 together.

Non EU nationals who are legally in the State and who have an entitlement to work are entitled to access the full range of FÁS programmes, subject to satisfying the other criteria for the respective schemes. The exception is that persons from outside the State/EEA and Switzerland who hold work permits and who have subsequently become unemployed, have no entitlement to access FÁS training. The following categories of person are entitled to free access to Further Education and training programmes, provided they satisfy the other criteria of the schemes:- 1. EU nationals; 2. EEA nationals; 3. nationals of the Swiss Confederation; 4. persons who have refugee status in Ireland; 5. persons in the State as the spouse or dependent of an EU national; 6. persons (including their spouse and children) who have been granted humanitarian leave to remain in the State (prior to the 1999 Immigration Act), or have subsidiary protection, or have been granted permission to remain in the State following a decision not to make a deportation order under Section 3 of the Immigration Act 1999; 7. persons who have permission to remain in the State as the parents of a child born in Ireland; 8. applicants for asylum who have been granted permission to work under the terms of a government decision of 26 July 1999.

Asylum seekers without an entitlement to work are entitled to free access to Adult Literacy, English language and mother culture supports only. Asylum seekers with the right to work are entitled to free access to those courses and VTOS, Youthreach and PLC courses as well as the full range of training programmes provided by FÁS.

With regard to higher education and the student support schemes for higher education and Post Leaving Certificate courses, all the categories 1-6 inclusive are entitled to be treated on the same basis as Irish nationals for purposes of free fees and student maintenance grants. Persons in the categories 7 and 8 and other nationals from outside the EU/EEA and Switzerland may only avail of access to higher education on the basis of payment of the economic fee. In 2003 the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland established a qualifications recognition service (found at the website ww.qualificationsrecognition.ie) which is aimed at individuals, employers, education providers and other stakeholders who may have enquiries concerning education and training awards made outside of Ireland.

The recognition service website includes an International Qualifications Database which contains information regarding foreign qualifications which have been processed to date by the National Qualifications Authority of Ireland and states the advice that has been issued regarding the comparability of the qualifications in Ireland. The recognition service receives a large number of formal applications for recognition information annually, peaking at over 2,000 in 2008, and the website was visited over 55,000 times during 2009.