Simon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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My Department and I are committed to ensuring access to third level education to everyone across the island. The 2021 Memorandum of Understanding on the Education Dimensions of the Common Travel Area, students from Ireland and Northern Ireland will continue to access higher education on the same basis as they did prior to the withdrawal of the UK from the EU in terms of fees and student support. Furthermore, I am anxious to promote student and staff mobility between Ireland and Northern Ireland across further and higher education, and as part of the New Decade, New Approach document, my officials are working closely with their counterparts in the Department of the Economy to see how seamless access can be promoted in the North-Western part of the island. This, I hope, will serve as a model for other areas along the border. In particular, we are engaging with colleagues about access to medicine for students across the island of Ireland.