Written answers

Tuesday, 16 October 2012

Department of Education and Skills

Third Level Fees

Photo of Eoghan MurphyEoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if Irish children who are living abroad, and who are in possession of an Irish passport, are required to pay college fees other than the standard registration fee, if they wish to attend university here. [44725/12]

Photo of Ruairi QuinnRuairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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Under the terms of my Department's Free Fee Schemes 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.

Currently there are exemptions to the residency clause of the scheme for persons posted abroad in the service of the state and for volunteer development workers. These exemptions are currently being examined and decisions in this regard will be made when these deliberations are completed. I would point out that the higher education institutions are autonomous bodies and the criteria governing the level of tuition fees to be charged (EU or Non EU rate), in cases where undergraduate students do not qualify for free fees and in the case of postgraduate study, is a matter for the institutions to determine.

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