Language Schools Dail Éireann — 2026-07-02 ============================================================ Ruth Coppinger (PBP), Dublin West Maybe it is time that the State get involved in this rather than leaving it to any private individual or private company to set up a language school, take money off desperate people who want to come here and learn English, and then just go away with that money. The Minister of State has said there is no function for the Department here. I only got this answer handed to me as the Minister of State started reading it. It really would be helpful if we could get these replies in advance. People were happy to take fees from international students and the moneys international students bring here, which is a significant amount. They pay rent and so on. However, there does not seem to be any checks of whether these schools have reserves of funds - for example, to pay staff wages - or whether there is something like a sinking fund. Are there no checks and balances that can be done? This is not the first time. Student Campus college is not a new offender. There was a report that an Algerian man is owed €2,137, has been waiting 14 months and still has not gotten it back. What does the Minister of State's Department do when complaints like that are made? The school is allowed to continue to operate and advertise itself as a provider. As the Minister just said, Ireland has this great reputation for English-language tuition. There seems to be light-touch regulation again and again by this Government. The way the system is structured is leading to this as well because we know people have to register at a school and then apply for the visa. There is an incentive there. I am not saying this is the case with Student Campus college, by the way, to quickly clarify that. However, people who are not honest brokers could set up a business, get money from people and then exploit them. --- Source: Houses of the Oireachtas. Licensed under CC BY 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). The Official Report is revised after first publication; the fetch timestamp below identifies the version quoted. Record URI: https://data.oireachtas.ie/akn/ie/debateRecord/dail/2026-07-02/debate/main Retrieved: 2026-08-27T06:52:14+00:00 Sitting date: 2026-07-02