Sligo TD, Marc MacSharry, has said that it is discriminatory that third-level students from Ukraine can go to university for free in Ireland, and avail of free accommodation, without means testing – while this is not available to Irish students.
Speaking to Gript, the Independent TD said that the full supports put in place by the government to assist Ukrainian students were not also all available to Irish students and that this was a form of discrimination.
“If I’m coming from the Ukraine, without any means test, all my children can get into UCD free, with free accommodation,” Deputy MacSharry said on RTÉ’s Upfront programme this week.
“But if I’m coming from a working class family in Co Wicklow, I cannot,” the Independent TD told Green Minister Joe O’Brien. “And that too is discrimination, Minister.”
Credit: RTÉ Upfront
All students who come from Ukraine and enter full-time higher education are entitled to a suite of supports without being means tested, including free tuition, accommodation, and a monthly stipend.
Ukrainian students are entitled to free tuition and do not have to pay the Student’s Contribution of between €2,000 and €3,000 per year. Tuition is also free for Irish students but unless a means tested grant is available, the Student Contribution must be paid.
In addition, Ukrainian students who are “pursuing or progressing in a full-time approved course in a publicly funded higher education institution will be supported financially through a monthly stipend”, the Department of Further and Higher Education says.
“The stipend amount will be €1,150 per month and will be paid to the student through their higher education institution’s International Office”.
Support for full time Postgraduate fees are also available to students from Ukraine – with payment of tuition fees up to a maximum €6,270.
If a Ukrainian student wishes to pursue a Post Leaving Cert course then they can avail of a bursary of €6,115 in the 2023/24 academic year.
“The PLC Bursary for Displaced Persons (Ukraine) Scheme will be in place for the 2023/2024 academic year and is aimed specifically at persons who have been granted temporary protection under section 60 of the International Protection Act 2015 and who would like to participate in a SOLAS-approved full time post leaving certificate (“PLC”) course in their local Education and Training Board,” the Department says.
“This financial support in the form of a bursary of €6,115 will be paid in monthly instalments to qualified persons who attend a SOLAS approved PLC course in the 2023/24 academic year.”
Speaking to Gript, Marc MacSharry said that Irish students are means tested for any supports available, and that Ukrainian students also avail of free accommodation through the Accommodation Recognition Payment (ARP) scheme – a tax-free payment of €800 per month for each property used to provide accommodation to refugees from Ukraine.
Information from SUSI, the national awarding authority for further and higher education grants, shows that even at the lowest income level for a family or household, Irish students would only be eligible for a fraction of the support available to Ukrainian students.
The average Irish family, according to average household income figures from the CSO, is not entitled to any maintenance grant or monthly but would likely qualify for a reduction in the student contribution fee.
Supports for Ukrainian students have been in place since the 2022/2023 academic year and in August, Minister Simon Harris announced that the financial support rates would be maintained at the same level as last year.
DISCRIMINATION
Deputy MacSharry said that the government had set up arrangements in this country that discriminated against both other asylum applicants and also against Irish people.
He said that Ukrainian students could avail of free accommodation to attend third level courses where Irish students could not, in addition to the financial supports offered which were not means tested for those from Ukraine.
The Sligo TD said that he had heard anecdotal evidence that because of the supports on offer, Ukrainian students in other countries were availing of assistance from agencies who had experience in arranging accommodation and access to courses for non-Irish students.
He said that the government needed to realise it had set up a system that amounted to discrimination and that he had been raising the issue in the Dáil and elsewhere for a considerable period of time.
“It’s not about welshing on commitments,” Deputy MacSharry said. “We need to adjust what we’re doing to prevent discrimination. There’s been a complete lack of strategic planning from the government, they are like headless chickens on this issue.”
“We need to be sensible about these things,” he added. “There was no need to go over the top, but these actions have caused and exacerbated the problems in relation to accommodation.”
In June, Deputy MacSharry said that housing refugees in student accommodation “displaces” people living in Ireland and is “totally counterproductive and wrong”.
Significant numbers of students were considering dropping out of college because of difficulty finding accommodation, a recent survey and reports from student bodies have found.
Deputy MacSharry said that the “vast majority are afraid to open their mouths because any dissenting voices are targeted”.
He added that Irish people were known for being hospitable and generous but that “we risk losing our generous nature because of the reckless policy of this government over the last eighteen months.”