Léim ar aghaidh chuig an bpríomhábhar
Gnáthamharc

Language Schools.

Dáil Éireann Debate, Tuesday - 9 March 2004

Tuesday, 9 March 2004

Ceisteanna (286)

John Deasy

Ceist:

373 Mr. Deasy asked the Minister for Justice, Equality and Law Reform the reason for the delay in the granting of approval for the provision of a new language school by the Garda national immigration bureau for a person (details supplied) in Dublin 4; if there will be no further unnecessary delays; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [7527/04]

Amharc ar fhreagra

Freagraí scríofa

In order to be given permission to remain as an English language student in this jurisdiction the non-EEA national in question must be in a position to show that he or she is enrolled in a course that provides a minimum of 15 hours of tuition per week. The purpose of this rule is to ensure that study is the primary purpose of the person's presence in the State and that enrolment in the course in question is not simply a convenient device to enable the putative student to cloak his or her presence for an alternative purpose with the vestige of study.

The school proprietor in question sought initially to arrange, for a fee, the presence of students in the State on the basis of four hours attendance per week — the remainder of the tuition to be done remotely via the Internet. The school was promoted on the basis that students would not even have to live near it. When asked why the students would have to go to the trouble and expense of travelling to and living in Ireland for the purposes of the e-learning scheme envisaged, the proprietor indicated that it was a necessary adjunct to the course that the students immerse themselves in the Irish way of life and practice speaking English in normal everyday situations.

When it became clear to the proprietor that his scheme was not acceptable to the Department, he indicated instead that he would now in fact provide courses which cohered with the Department's general rule — that is physical attendance for 15 hours per week. The Department agreed to this arrangement provided that the Garda national immigration bureau was satisfied, on foot of a visit to the school, that reasonable facilities were in place which would support an objective conclusion that the stated policy of the school was in fact its true policy.

To date, the proprietor has been unable to satisfy the Garda national immigration bureau to that effect. I should point out in this regard that it is not the policy of the Department to enable a school to operate in a manner which is unacceptable in order to acquire the necessary finance to comply with Department requirements — every undertaking of this nature needs an adequate amount of capital investment at the outset.

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