Carol Nolan (Offaly, Sinn Fein)
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158. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills if he or any of his officials have approached any finance companies here or outside Ireland in respect of the prospect of the introduction of student loans; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [29723/16]

Richard Bruton (Dublin Bay North, Fine Gael)
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The Report of the Expert Group on Future Funding for Higher Education, published in July, clearly outlines the funding challenges in the higher education sector and offers a number of approaches and recommendations for consideration. As committed to in the Programme for Government, I have referred the report to the Education Committee as part of the process for formulating a plan for the future of the sector.

The Expert Group examined arrangements for funding higher education internationally. The spectrum of different funding approaches was set out in the discussion paper published by the Group in November 2015 and which is available on my Department's website. The paper also considered countries which operate a system of tuition fees supported by student loans such as Australia, England and the Netherlands. The Group consulted and considered the applicability of the different approaches in the Irish context.

While the report sets out a range of cost estimates and example scenarios as to how such a scheme might operate, the Group recommends that if Government decide to move to this funding model, an implementation team should be established to design the system and would have to take account of several different factors. It would also analyse in detail such systems used in other countries. No approaches have been made by my Department to any finance companies with regard to introducing a student loans system in this country.