Eoghan Murphy (Dublin South East, Fine Gael)
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372. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the financial supports, or otherwise, to be provided to foreign language students enrolled in English language colleges which abruptly closed; and the position for students who have completed or part-completed their 24-week study requirement but cannot get their documentation signed for immigration as the schools have closed down. [26087/15]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware the first concern of my Department in the case of genuine students affected by sudden college closures has been to reassure them about their immigration status. In that regard the Irish Naturalisation and Immigration Service will honour all existing immigration permissions of students in recently closed colleges and the students will be entitled to work in accordance with the rules for student migration. However, it is expected that students will make efforts to continue their studies and if they are seeking to stay on at the end of their current permission their study record would be an important consideration. Where a student is seeking to renew their immigration permission at the expiry of their current permission they should note that they will be required to demonstrate that they have enrolled on a new course at a new college.  This should be done in good time prior to the expiry of the permission.  It is recognised that some students may, through no fault of their own, be unable to access the usual documents required to renew their registration, notably attendance documents, however allowances will be made in such cases.

Contractually the relationship as such is between a private individual and a private company. Students, whether in Ireland or in their home country, should pursue all legal options available to them to recover any monies owed to them by one of the closed colleges.

The Deputy will be aware that on foot of proposals I brought forward, in conjunction with the Minister for Education and Skills, the Government approved the implementation of a series of reforms to the student immigration system for international education, in response to concerning practices within certain parts of the sector and a number of English language college closures. The reforms are designed to drive real, lasting change in the sector and will tackle abuse of the immigration regime and labour market, improve the overall quality of offering to international students, and improve protection for learners, whilst safeguarding the strong international reputation of high-quality Irish education providers in line with the goals of Ireland’s International Education Strategy. A key element of these new rules is the introduction of a number of measures designed to protect students including compulsory learner protection arrangements and a separate account facility to safeguard student advance payments.