Vol. 547 No. 1
1395 Mr. G. Mitchell asked the Minister for Education and Science if he will ensure that the fee being sought by the CAO in the case of a person (details supplied) in Dublin 6 will be waived; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2776/02]
The Central Applications Office is a company limited by guarantee which was established in 1976 to accept applications for admission to undergraduate courses in higher education institutions. It is an organisation representative of higher education interests and is controlled entirely and jointly by them. I have no function in relation to the operation of the CAO.
However, the CAO has kindly supplied the following information in relation to the Deputy's inquiry. CAO fees are not waived as a rule as this would simply mean that other applicants would have to bear the waived charge. Where a recheck results in an upgrade and this gives a level of points which would have merited an offer of a place if known at the normal time, one of two courses of action is taken. Either the applicant is offered the place for the current academic year or a deferred place is offered for the following year. The latter is the case if there is insufficient space in the course or if it would be disadvantageous to the applicant to start late. In fact, deferral in such cases is very rare. Where it occurs, the admitting institution usually does not require CAO application in the following year so the question of another application fee does not arise.
