Terence Flanagan (Dublin North East, Fine Gael)
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345. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if there have been any discussions with banks to provide reduced-interest loans to help students with the funding of postgraduate courses, as is the current practice in certain financial institutions in the UK; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [32058/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Department, with support and advice from the National Treasury Management Agency, met with a number of commercial providers in relation to the provision of credit to enable postgraduate students to pursue their studies. A new loan initiative was introduced by Bank of Ireland in 2012 to provide finance for fees and living costs. While developed in conjunction with the Department of Education and Skills, it is a Bank of Ireland product and further information on the terms and conditions of the loan is available from the bank. A number of financial institutions already offer loans for postgraduate studies.