Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael)
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Question 305: To ask the Tánaiste and Minister for Education and Skills if she will relax the rule that prevents returning emigrants for being eligible for free fees (details supplied); and if she will make a statement on the matter. [33189/10]

Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)
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Under the terms of my Department's Free Fee Initiative the Exchequer meets the cost of tuition fees in respect of eligible students who are pursuing full-time undergraduate courses of study which are a minimum of two years duration in an approved institution. The main conditions are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold EU/EEA/Swiss nationality in their own right and have been ordinarily resident in an EU/EEA/Swiss state for at least three of the five years preceding their entry to an approved third level course. Students with official refugee status in the State who meet the criteria of the scheme may also be considered under the Free Fees Initiative. Any such amendment to the residency rule as requested by the Deputy could not apply in isolation to returning Irish emigrants as the scheme must be applied to all EU/EEA/Swiss nationals on the same basis.

The assessment of eligibility under the Free Fees Initiative in individual cases is a matter for each higher education institution to determine within the terms of the scheme. I have no plans to amend the residency rule of the scheme.

Where undergraduate students do not meet the eligibility criteria of the Free Fees initiative such students must pay the appropriate tuition fee as determined by the third level institution. However, tax relief, can be claimed for tuition fees paid in respect of approved undergraduate courses at approved colleges of higher education in the State and any other E.U. Member State.