Pádraig Mac Lochlainn (Donegal North East, Sinn Fein)
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Question 187: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason, when currently 60% of university places in the Twenty-six Counties are held for Irish students, a student from the North, even with an Irish passport, is not recognised as qualifying within that 60% figure and, in view of the Good Friday Agreement which allows persons in the north to hold an Irish passport, the reason they are not considered Irish by the universities in the Twenty-six Counties. [9055/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The selection of students for entry to higher education is a matter for the institutions which are responsible for determining entry and admissions criteria in accordance with their statutory autonomy in academic affairs. Places on full-time undergraduate courses are allocated by the universities through the Central Applications Office which manages the process on their behalf. Places are allocated through a competitive points system which, in general, ranks candidates on the basis of results achieved in the Leaving Certificate Examination or an equivalent school leaving examination. All EU candidates applying for places in Irish universities are required to be treated equally and my Department is not aware of any operation of a 60% quota of places reserved for Irish students.