Vol. 487 No. 2
40 Mr. Sargent asked the Minister for Education and Science his views on the effects of the British Government's proposal to introduce tuition fees for higher education students and the likely influx of students to third level colleges south of the Border from Northern Ireland and Britain; and if he will raise Irish concerns with the British Government in this regard. [22370/97]
I raised the possible effects of the proposed changes to tuition fee arrangements with Mr. David Blunkett, the Secretary of State for Education and Employment, at a meeting in London in December 1997. The Secretary of State assured me that it was not the UK Government's intention to deter Irish students from coming to the UK and that the new fee arrangements were designed to allow students to contribute fairly to the costs of their higher education. As the Deputy is aware, the proposals involve the introduction of an annual tuition fee of up to £1,000 depending on parental income, the continuation of free tuition for students from lower income families and the replacement of maintenance grants with student loans.
The detailed arrangements are not yet available and will be set out in a White Paper, which has yet to be published. Accordingly, it is not possible to assess the full implications of the proposed fee arrangements.
In relation to student flows, in the 1995-96 academic year, there were 1,400 full-time students from Northern Ireland and the United Kingdom in Exchequer funded third level institutions in the Republic of Ireland. In the same year, there were some 4,000 full-time students from the Republic studying in Northern Ireland.
My officials have also met their counterparts in the Department of Education in Northern Ireland in relation to these issues and on going contact is being maintained.
