I propose to take Questions Nos. 243 to 246, inclusive, together.
The position is that from the current academic year students who acquire EEA citizenship during their course of third level studies may be eligible for free fees for the remainder of their studies subject to certain conditions. Where students do not meet the terms of the free fees schemes, including nationality, it is the higher education institutions that determine, in accordance with their own criteria, the rate of tuition fees (EU or non EU) to be paid by students. Whilst this is an issue for the Governing Authority of each Institution, the Government has agreed that certain policy issues need to be clarified. In that regard the Higher Education Authority (HEA) has, at my request, entered into discussions with the sector so as establish and report on the practices currently being pursued in individual institutions in relation to the charging of the EU and non-EU rates of fee and to facilitate the introduction of a consistent policy approach with regards the fee rates to apply to students who do not qualify for free fees.
Under the terms of the student grant scheme, grant assistance is awarded to students who meet the prescribed conditions of funding including those which relate to nationality, residency, previous academic attainment and means. The nationality requirements for the student grant scheme are set out in section 14 of the Student Support Act 2011 and regulation 5 of the Student Support Regulations 2013. In all cases, to qualify for a student grant, it is the grant applicant and not his/her parents that must meet the nationality or prescribed immigration status requirements in their own right. The onus is on the grant applicant to provide the necessary documentary evidence as proof of their nationality or immigration status to the relevant grant awarding authority.
Article 32 of the Student Grant Scheme 2013 provides for the review of eligibility for the award of a grant in the event of changes of circumstances in the academic year, including a change in relation to a students' nationality or immigration status. This means that where a student acquires Irish citizenship by naturalisation or acquires a prescribed immigration status during the course of their studies they may make an application in the academic year for a student grant.