English-language schools have challenged senior Ministers to provide evidence in support of claims the sector is acting as a visa “back door”.
In letters to Minister for Justice Jim O’Callaghan and Minister for Further Education James Lawless, a lobby group for the sector, pushed back against the idea there was “systemic abuse” within the sector.
The Government is assessing international student numbers in the English-language sector and developing options to bring the figure down, according to briefings given to senior Ministers in recent weeks.
These same briefings outline a belief within the Coalition that a significant number of international students seek student permissions as a “back door” into securing employment and “frequently work more than the hours they are permitted”.
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In a letter to Lawless sent earlier this week, chief executive of English Education Ireland Lorcan O’Connor Lloyd argued that attendance monitoring, reporting obligations and compliance checks have been in place in the sector for over a decade.
“Against that backdrop, suggestions of systemic abuse within the sector have caused significant concern among compliant providers,” he wrote. “If there is evidence indicating widespread non-compliance, we would welcome the opportunity to understand the data underpinning such claims”.
In a letter to O’Callaghan, he wrote that “in light of recent assertions” he was seeking clarity on the number of compliance inspections undertaken in the English-language education sector in the past five years, as well as how many times there were confirmed instances of non-compliance.
He has also asked the department whether it considers any such findings to represent systemic abuse or isolated cases.
“We fully support robust and proportionate immigration controls,” he wrote. “However, broad characterisations risk damaging Ireland’s international reputation as a high-quality education destination.”
There were around 60,000 visas for students from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) issued in 2024, with Government figures suggesting about 25,000 of those are for the English language sector or for shorter courses. Students are permitted to work 20 hours per week and 40 hours per week outside of term time.
A briefing given to senior Ministers last week outlined concerns that employers wishing to hire international students on low wages should not be facilitated, especially when these roles could be filled by Irish students or workers.
It was also argued that it was likely wage suppression arose from the availability of lower skilled international student labour, while international student numbers also placed additional pressure on the private rental sector and other areas like health services and transport infrastructure.
O’Connor Lloyd told Lawless the English language sector contributes around €1.4 billion annually to the economy and supports 8,000 jobs in the country, adding that it has been “strongly supportive” of recent moves to introduce a new quality mark for the sector.
“We support strong enforcement where necessary, but we also believe policy and public commentary should reflect evidence and proportionality,” he wrote. The lobby group is seeking meetings with both O’Callaghan and Lawless.
According to figures compiled by the industry, it hosts 130,000 international students a year, with 55 per cent of them being under-18s who typically stay one to two weeks. Around 70 per cent are from western Europe, with Latin America accounting for 19 per cent of students – the majority of whom are visa-free, according to the lobby group.
