Mary Lou McDonald (Dublin Central, Sinn Fein)
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798. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills her view on whether it is appropriate for an educational institution (details supplied) to withhold a qualification from a student on the grounds that exam fees have not been paid. [1359/15]

Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick City, Labour)
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Institutes of Technology are autonomous institutions within the meaning of the Institutes of Technology Act 2006. The management of their academic affairs, including issues surrounding the collection of examination fees and relevant action where there are outstanding debts, are matters for the Governing Authority of each institution. Neither I nor my Department have any involvement in such matters. I would like to inform the Deputy that apprentices are paid a training allowance by SOLAS for phases of their training spent in IoTs. This allowance ranges from €293 to €647 per week depending on the trade and phase of the apprenticeship programme. If however, an apprentice is experiencing difficulty in paying an examination fee they should bring their case to the attention of the relevant staff within the institute.