Thomas Byrne (Meath East, Fianna Fail)
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109. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of British and Northern Irish citizens who are registered as students in higher education institutes here; and the number of Irish students registered as third level students in both Great Britain and Northern Ireland. [19026/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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In the academic year 2015/16 there were 1,007 full-time and part-time Northern Irish domiciled enrolments and 1,805 full-time and part-time British domiciled enrolments in all higher education institutions that are funded by the Higher Education Authority (HEA).

The HEA does not collect data on students from the Republic of Ireland studying in Northern Ireland or Britain. However, I understand from the Department for the Economy in Northern Ireland that in the academic year 2014/15 there were 2,345 full-time and part-time Republic of Ireland domiciled enrolments in higher education institutions in Northern Ireland. Data is not available on the number of students from the Republic of Ireland studying in Britain.

Obviously, this matter will need to be monitored in light of the UK referendum result last week. The Government has a Contingency Framework in place which maps the key issues that will be most important to Ireland in the coming weeks and months. My Department participated fully in and contributed to the preparation of that Framework for the education sector. The Government has published a summary of the key actions that will be taken to address the contingencies arising from the UK's decision to leave the EU. Negotiations on the future EU UK relationship will now be required and officials from my Department will engage fully in these discussions at EU and bi-lateral level.