Seán Crowe (Dublin South West, Sinn Fein)
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Question 173: To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the reason when a student enters a course in an Irish university or institute of technology their eligibility for State support such as the free fees scheme is assessed and remains unchanged even if their status changes during their course; and the reason students who have been granted Irish passports and citizenship are still treated as if they are international non-EU students and charged fees accordingly. [15551/12]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Currently under the terms of my Department's Free Fee Scheme 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. Eligibility under the scheme is determined at date of entry to the course of study.

Where undergraduate students do not meet the eligibility criteria of the free fees schemes, it is the higher education institution concerned that determines, in accordance with its criteria, the appropriate tuition fee payable by such students.