Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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128. To ask the Minister for Justice and Equality the number of English language schools which were inspected under the Interim list of eligible programs in each of the past three years; the number of these inspections which found irregularities; the action taken if irregularities were found; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [11927/17]

Frances Fitzgerald (Dublin Mid West, Fine Gael)
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The Interim List of Eligible Programmes (ILEP) was introduced on a phased basis from June 2015 with the first phase confined to higher education programmes which had previously been listed on the Internationalisation Register. The next phase took place in January 2016 with english language programmes being listed for the first time. Unannounced inspections of educational providers by the immigration authorities began in November 2015. There have been twenty five (25) such inspections in total to date.

The purpose of these inspections is to satisfy the immigration authorities that providers are operating their services in compliance with the Guidelines for English Language Programmes on the Interim List of Eligible Programmes. For the most part services have been found to be compliant or have been reminded of their obligations under the Guidelines in relation to minor infractions. In the case of more serious infractions a provider would have been denied a full listing until such time as they could satisfy the immigration authorities they were compliant with the relevant criteria.