Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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403. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the projected cost of a fund to fully subsidise the cost of attending courses for students transferring into MEI facilitated courses following the closure of language schools they were registered at. [47162/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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MEI schools have agreed to provide course places to genuine displaced students at a fee of €60 per week. This fee, which was calculated on a cost provision basis, represents a significant discount of 70% on the standard fees for an MEI school in acknowledgement that a fee has already been paid to the closed college.

The other variable is the number of weeks outstanding for each student affected by the private college closures. It is not possible to provide a projected cost of a fund referred to by the Deputy as the students affected by the closures are at different phases of completion in respect of their particular courses of study.

As of Friday 5th December 2014, MEI had received 720 enquiries from students in relation to their discounted course offer. A total of 565 students have now taken up the MEI offer.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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404. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has met with the Department of Justice and Equality on the matter of visa issues for students following the closure of language schools they were registered at. [47163/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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On 2nd September last, my colleague the Minister for Justice and Equality and I jointly announced robust regulatory reforms to the International education sector in response to the closure of a number of private colleges. As part of that response, the Department of Justice and Equality has acted rapidly to bring reassurance to affected students regarding their immigration status.

I am aware that the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service (INIS) of the Department of Justice and Equality has been working closely with the Irish Council for International Students to put arrangements in place to allow affected students to register with the Garda National Immigration Bureau.

I understand that INIS is continuing to provide on-going support and advice to students regarding visa issues through meetings, email, telephone, Facebook and also through regular immigration status updates on the Student Task Force website.

Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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405. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if she has met with the Department of Environment, Community and Local Government concerning the matter of the number of homeless students who are now rough sleeping in the Phoenix Park because the task force on students affected by the closure of private colleges has not addressed their needs. [47167/14]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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I am not aware of any cases of international students who have been made homeless as a result of the private college closures. Officials from my Department have consulted with officials in the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service in the Department of Justice and Equality, Quality and Qualifications Ireland and the Irish Council for International Students on this matter - these are the organisations with whom international students who have been affected by college closures principally liaise. No such cases have been reported to any of these organisations.