Debate contribution: Cross-border Education

Debate contribution by Mr Pádraig Delargy on 2 March 2026.

MLA

Mr Pádraig Delargy

Party at the time

Sinn Féin

Date

2 March 2026

Type

Debate contribution

Business

Private Members' Business

Heading

Cross-border Education

Assembly identifier

Official Report component 5433348

Read the official Assembly record

Text

I beg to move

Go raibh maith agat, a Leas-Cheann Comhairle.

Today, I raise a perennial problem, which is the lack of alignment between universities and colleges, North and South. That has an impact, particularly in my constituency, where we have a number of students from Donegal who study in Derry and a number of students from Derry who study in Donegal. Achieving regional balance has been a cornerstone of this Executive and has been raised as an issue by every Department. We therefore want to see that balance achieved, because it has an impact on every single one of our communities across the North. If we are to look at the different systems, we have to start with the UCAS system, which has many benefits and offers a model of best practice, particularly on alignment. UCAS alignment with the CAO system is therefore particularly important, because it would allow students the opportunity to have one system to work towards, while also giving students in the North the opportunity to apply to and study in colleges in the South, and vice versa. It would allow students in the South the opportunity to have more time to plan where to go to university, to decide what course to do and to sort out their accommodation for when they get there. Alignment would therefore benefit everyone. Alignment would be mutually beneficial and create more opportunities for students, but it would also create opportunities for those right across our society and ensure that people can live, work and study at home. I am sure that all MLAs face the problem of cities and towns in their constituencies losing young people through the brain drain. We are losing young people who have huge skills and huge talents, and we want to have the opportunity to retain them in our communities in Ireland. Having alignment is really important for students, because it would allow the Careers Service to be more focused on the issue. Unless you are a teacher with personal experience of the process, you will not be particularly familiar with CAO applications. We have seen an inconsistency in approach across schools and across different education sectors. We want a system that is less ad hoc and less inconsistent and that does not perpetuate barriers to education, particularly for young people whose families may not have had the opportunity to study in third-level institutions. It is about equalising that opportunity and creating the same opportunity for young people in all our schools and colleges. There have been significant advancements in alignment made recently, particularly, first, on recognition of the issue itself and, secondly, on the removal of the necessity to do four A levels here. My colleagues Mairéad Farrell TD and Donna McGettigan TD have raised that issue in the Dáil, and our team in the Oireachtas has been raising it consistently. It is an issue that has been pushed by my Sinn Féin colleagues in the South, working with our team in the North. An opportunity exists for the Minister of Education, and I am disappointed that he is not here today. He has proposed the removal of AS levels, but one of the benefits that we have seen recently is that four A levels are no longer required in order for students in the North to apply to CAO. Instead, they are now required to have three A levels and one AS level. Removing AS levels would negate that benefit and thus reduce opportunities for students from the North to study in the South, instead increasing barriers. I know that the Minister has had some engagement with his Southern counterparts, and it would have been useful to hear about that today, but, hopefully, other Members can raise points and update us on exactly what has been happening. This is about creating fairer and better opportunities for our young people. Achieving alignment necessitates a joined-up, collegiate approach between Departments, North and South, universities, colleges and awarding bodies, as well as UCAS and CAO. In particular, I praise the National Union of Students-Union of Students in Ireland (NUS-USI) for its work on the issue, because that work has been student-led. It has been led by students who have been impacted on by the problem and want to drive progress. Even in my time at school, many of my friends who wished to study in the South decided not to do so. Although they applied to both UCAS and CAO, they decided, once they got their offer from Ulster University, Queen's or the Open University, that they would take up that offer and reject their offer from the South because of the uncertainty created by the delay. We are offering Ministers an opportunity to work collegiately on the issue to ensure that all students can have equality of access and equality of opportunity.

808 words. Text as published by the Northern Ireland Assembly.

Assessment

Not flagged

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Assessed 21 October 2026 at 15:00 UTC by jev-1.13.0 (requested as typesafe/jev) under rubric 2026.10-r9, methodology 1.9.

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