Robert Dowds (Dublin Mid West, Labour)
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Question 127: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills his views on changing the residency requirements for third level fees in order that a student who met the residency requirement at some point during their studies could be subject to lower fees for the remainder of their course. [29575/11]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Currently 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 higher education institution. The main conditions of the scheme are that students must be first-time undergraduates, hold inter alia 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.

I have no plans at present to amend the residency criteria of the Scheme.

Where undergraduate students do not meet the eligibility criteria of the free fees schemes, including the residency requirement, it is the higher education institution concerned that determines, in accordance with its criteria, the appropriate tuition fee (EU or non-EU rate) payable by such students.

Section 473A, Taxes Consolidation Act, 1997, as amended by Section 11 of the Finance Act 2011, provides for 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 E.U. Member States and in non-EU countries. Details are available on the Revenue Commissioners' website at www.revenue.ie.