Part time students to get tax relief in the autumn

PART TIME third level education will become tax deductible from the autumn, the Minister for Finance has said.

Up to half the 24,000 students on evening, modular and distance learning courses should benefit from the measure, which was tabled in the Dail yesterday.

Tax relief will also be provided for up to 5,000 full time students attending private third level colleges.

The measures, included as amendments to the Finance Bill 1996, could he worth up to £500 a year for many students.

The tax relief will apply at the standard 27 per cent rate on fees paid for "certain" undergraduate courses of at least two years' duration in publicly funded third level colleges, as well as courses in private colleges which satisfy standards to be approved by the Minister for Education.

It will apply only to students in work who are funding their studies from their own income and have not previously taken a certificate, diploma or degree course. The Department estimates the measure will cost £1 to £2 million a year.

The Minister for Education, Ms Breathnach, promised last night that details of courses and private colleges qualifying for tax relief will be published soon. This will be based on the report of working party on private third level colleges under the chairmanship of Mr Dick Langford, chairman of Teastas.

The Minister described the measure as a "follow up" to the abolition of fees for full time undergraduate students last year.

"This development represents a further positive step forward in assisting students with the cost of their studies at third level, and aspires to provide fair and equitable incentives for further study," she said.

The Union of Students in Ireland welcomed the announcement but said it would have been better had tuition fees for part time students been abolished.

Ms Ruth Coppinger, of Night Students for Equality, said there were still "glaring inequalities" in third level fees. The low paid would benefit least from the tax relief, while part time students on social welfare would get nothing at all.

She also asked if married women could claim if they had no income of their own.