To avail of funding under the Free Fees Initiative (FFI) or the Student Grant Scheme, students must meet the criteria of the respective schemes including the residency and nationality criteria.
In terms of residency, a student must be ordinarily resident in Ireland or the EU, the EEA, Switzerland or the UK for at least three of the five years before embarking on an approved third level course. All students, including Irish Nationals or persons granted International Protection are required to meet the residency criteria of the respective schemes.
To qualify for free fees funding or a student grant, the student’s nationality or their immigration status in the State determines whether or not they meet the nationality requirements. To meet the nationality requirements of the aforementioned schemes, a student must hold either EU/EEA/Swiss/UK nationality or certain permissions to reside in the State granted by the Department of Justice.
The Deputy will be aware that the Department of Foreign Affairs was able to assist a small number of student visa holders to request the necessary clearance to exit Gaza as they travelled to Ireland to take-up or continue their studies. The Department of Foreign Affairs is very limited in the assistance that it can provide to individuals in Gaza who are not Irish citizens or immediate dependents accompanying Irish citizens.
While there is no specific programme for those fleeing the conflict in Gaza, my Department does operate the International Protection Student Scheme (IPSS). The IPSS is targeted at three particular groups of students (asylum applicants, subsidiary protection applications and leave to remain applicants) who also meet the residency requirements.
Notwithstanding the above, a number of Irish Universities are responding to requests from Palestinians fleeing the conflict, as part of the Scholars at Risk programme, in addition to specific institutional responses.
