Q&A

Your education questions answered by Brian Mooney

I am very confused by the requirements to qualify to pay EU fees at third-level colleges here. My daughter is currently doing her Leaving Certificate. By the time she completes her secondary schooling (June 2005), she will have been in Ireland for four years. She is interested in doing graphic design at Letterkenny Institute of Technology in Co Donegal. I am working in Letterkenny and have been resident there for four years. This is where the confusion starts. Will she have to pay EU fees (not "free" fees) or will she be seen as an international student? I will be renewing my work authorisation for a further two years in June 2005 and will be applying for citizenship on the basis of residency in June 2006. As I understand it, even if someone's status changes midway through a course, their status will remain as it was at the start of their studies. I also have another daughter who finishes school in June 2006, and will have very much the same problems. I would really appreciate any advice or information you might have.

The position on fees for third-level study in Irish colleges is a very complex one. In relation to your specific question, the position is that for "free" fees a student must have two things - EU nationality and EU residency for a minimum of three of the past five years. As your daughter does not have EU nationality, the only issue is whether she qualifies for EU fees? The Department of Education regulation in relation to EU fees is that it applies to students where both student and parent have residency for a minimum of three of the past five years. If a parent has been a tax resident during that period, as you have, then EU fees will apply. As you will only become eligible for citizenship in 2006, your second daughter will not meet the EU nationality requirements for free fees for a further three years - until 2009. However, she will also be eligible for EU fees in 2006. You are correct in assuming that once a student's fee status is established, it remains unchanged for the duration of his or her course.

My daughter is nine and in third class in primary school. At this point she has taken several sets of standardised assessments which were announced in the school calendar, but for which we were never given any results. I mentioned the tests to her teacher at the parent-teacher meeting last year and was told that she had done "very well" but was not given the results. I don't want to appear a pushy parent, but I would be interested in seeing how my daughter performed and whether there are any areas we could help her with. Are we entitled to get any results from the tests?

The issue of the administration of standardised assessments to primary-school students is a difficult one. There was controversy last summer when the then Minister for Education, Noel Dempsey, announced that all primary-school children would sit such tests at regular intervals. Minister Hanafin is now reviewing this decision. The issue that caused controversy was that the results of these tests, if made available publicly, could be used as a means of assessing an individual school's or teacher's performance. The purpose of all such tests is to assess the capacity of the child so that remedial action can be taken if they are found to have fallen behind the norm for their particular age group. In the vast majority of cases the results are reassuring and I can see no reason why they should not be communicated to parents. It may simply be the case that your child's school does not have the administrative and secretarial facilities to make that possible.

• Brian Mooney is president of the Institute of Guidance Counsellors. E-mail questions to bmooney@irish-times.ie