Holly Cairns (Cork South West, Social Democrats)
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570. To ask the Minister for Education and Skills the progress made in addressing the recommendation in the report of the Advisory Group on the Provision of Support including Accommodation to Persons in the International Protection Process that applicants should have the right to access higher education on the same basis and at the same fees as Irish people once they meet the qualifying criteria. [11783/22]

Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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The Deputy will be aware that my Department made a commitment in the White Paper to end Direct Provision that  "International Protection applicants who are currently in the system and who are resident in Ireland for 3 years will be facilitated in accessing third-level education by means of their eligibility for support under the Student Support Scheme run by DFHERIS, which provides a similar level of financial support for International Protection applicants as is provided for Irish students who are eligible for support under the SUSI grant scheme."

The Student Support Scheme is a DFHERIS administrative scheme for students who are in the protection system or at the leave to remain (but not deportation order) stage and who are pursuing an approved further or higher education course. The scheme was introduced in 2015 and provides supports along similar lines to the current Student Grant Scheme (the SUSI scheme) to eligible applicants who are in the protection system and who are either:

- asylum applicants

- subsidiary protection applicants

- leave to remain applicants

Following a review in 2020 I approved positive changes to the scheme to widen access for those in the international protection system. The requirement for prospective applications to have attended three academic years in the Irish school system and to have obtained the Leaving Certificate in the State was removed. The criteria to retain the requirement to have a combined period of three years or more in the protection process or leave to remain stage was retained as this requirement is along similar lines to the statutory based SUSI scheme which requires prospective applicants to have three out of five years residency.

Subsequently in 2021 the scheme was further expanded to allow eligible applicants to undertake postgraduate courses of which officials in my Department confirmed they received 9 applications. To date 3 postgraduate students have been awarded grant support.  These positive changes resulted in a fivefold increase in the number of applications and more eligible applicants to the scheme. Between 2015 and 2019 only 11 applicants were eligible for support compared to 75 in the following 2 years since the aforementioned changes to eligibility criteria were made.

A total of 40 students were awarded grant support in 2020/2021 at a cost of  €253,038.  A further 35 students were awarded grant support in 2021/2022 and estimated spend for this cohort is circa €220,000. This contrasts greatly with the average spend between 2015 and 2019 of circa €13,000 on the scheme.

In March 2021, myself and the Minister for Children, Equality, Disability, Integration and Youth (D/CEDI+Y) jointly announced that, international protection applicants with permission to work, will no longer be required to pay the international student fee of €3,600 to access Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) education courses.

Post Leaving Certificate (PLC) courses are full-time programmes for young people who have completed their Leaving Certificate and adults returning to education. The course lasts one to two years and leads to an award on the National Framework of Qualifications at NFQ Level 5 or NFQ level 6. The courses develop technical and practical skills for an industry recognised qualification. They also offer an alternative route to higher education.