Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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1051. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students studying pre-law in further education in each of the years since 2016; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30997/21]

Rose Conway-Walsh (Mayo, Sinn Fein)
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1052. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the number of students who move from pre-law in further education to a degree law course in higher education; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [30998/21]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 1051 and 1052 together.

Please see the attached table which outlines the number of student enrolments from 2018 to date. The table shows that the number of students studying courses in Law and Legal Studies in Further Education and Training (FET) has been increasing since 2018. The detailed breakdown of courses and enrolments are only accessible since the rollout of the SOLAS PLSS recording system so comparable 2016 and 2017 data is not available. Please note that these courses are not specifically or exclusively ‘pre-law’ courses but they would prepare those students who want to progress onto third level education in law studies.

SOLAS, the further education authority have informed me that they do not hold any statistical information on the number of students' progression onto third level degree courses in law. However, I can confirm that at a broader level, there are strong pathways from the Further Education to the Higher Education sector in particular for PLC provision that includes law and legal study in FET.

The FET courses in ‘Law’ falls under the learning field of Business Administration and Law. In the PLC outcomes report, SOLAS found that the majority of learners who completed a course in a given International Standard Classification of Education field of learning progressed onto third level education in the same field. For example, 57 % of Business Administration and Law PLC graduates moved onto third level education in the same field (504 graduates out of 885).