Higher Education Minister James Lawless has said that government support for Ukrainian students is being aligned with that provided to Irish and EU students in an effort to ensure a “level playing field for all.”
Speaking to journalists ahead of Tuesday morning’s cabinet meeting, the Fianna Fáil Minister said that the decision to revise the current supports stemmed from a prior government commitment.
“We do need to look at the emergency supports that were provided in June 2022,” he said. “That was just after the invasion, and there was a decision of government in October 2022 to align the supports provided to Ukrainians in line with supports provided to Irish students and broader EU support.”
Lawless said this policy was now being implemented.
“We want to continue to support those, including their educational journeys,” he said. “That obviously is a benefit for Ireland in terms of increasing the number of highly skilled graduates in the workforce.”
He added that the government was aiming to regularise the system to avoid inconsistencies in how support is delivered.
“It’s to regularise the system so that we don’t have anomalies—for example, that we don’t have stipends coming from Erasmus schemes and other schemes, you know, sort of one-off supports,” he said. “I think we need to get on a steady footing now, with continuous support available.”
Describing the government’s goal, he said it was to bring consistency to how all students are treated.
“We’re doing it in a way that is on a par with that provided to our students,” he said. “And that provided across the rest of the system, so that we have a level playing field for all.”
Lawless also said the issue was a priority.
“It’s something, obviously, Minister, and something I think is important that we tackle,” he said.
Ukrainian students were granted emergency access to Ireland’s higher education system following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. Thousands of refugees who arrived in Ireland after the outbreak of war have since entered education and training programmes across the country.
In June 2022, the government introduced special funding measures to support these students, including access to the free fees initiative and maintenance grants. A cabinet decision in October of that year committed to aligning these supports more closely with those available to domestic and EU students.