Vol. 572 No. 6
195 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if discussions have taken place at any level in his Department regarding the current level of the college registration fee; if meetings have taken place between his Department's officials on the current level of the college registration fee; if he has received correspondence from outside his Department on the current level of the college registration fee; and if so, the nature of these discussions. [23862/03]
199 Mr. Crowe asked the Minister for Education and Science if he has no plans to increase the college registration fee. [23866/03]
I propose to take Questions Nos. 195 and 199 together.
Officials in my Department would have regular internal formal and informal discussions in relation to a range of financial planning matters, including, in particular, matters relevant to the current Estimates process. As part of the normal Estimates process, various scenarios and policy approaches would be floated in the context of these internal exchanges, which would not have the status of formal proposals. My Department has received recent external correspondence in the form of representations from public representatives and members of the public in relation to the level of the student registration charge.
No decisions have been taken in relation to the level of the registration charge for the 2004-05 academic year.
