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New section 66 of Principal Act (Protection of Enrolled Learners Fund)
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30. The Principal Act is amended by the substitution of the following section for section 66:
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“Protection of Enrolled Learners Fund
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66. (1) The Authority shall, in accordance with the requirements under subsection (2), establish, maintain and operate a fund which shall be known as the ‘Protection of Enrolled Learners Fund’ and is in this Act referred to as the ‘Learner Protection Fund’.
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(2) Requirements shall be prescribed by the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, in relation to the establishment, maintenance and operation of the Learner Protection Fund. Requirements so prescribed may include requirements with respect to the exercise by the Authority of the power of defrayment (from moneys standing to the credit of the Learner Protection Fund) under subsection (3)(a) and (b).
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(3) In the case of a protected programme default event, moneys standing to the credit of the Learner Protection Fund may be used by the Authority to—
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(a) defray the costs that will be incurred in the completion by the enrolled learner of the programme, the subject of that event (the ‘relevant programme’), where such completion is possible,
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(b) defray the payment of the fees required for the transfer of an enrolled learner onto a programme of another provider that is similar to the relevant programme,
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(c) if the Authority concurs with a submission in writing to it made by the enrolled learner (or another acting on the learner’s behalf) to the effect that compliance with paragraph (a) or (b) is not practicable in the particular case, refund to an enrolled learner, or to the person who paid the moneys on behalf of the enrolled learner, the moneys most recently paid in respect of the relevant programme, including, where payment in respect of such a period has been made, in respect of the current academic year.
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(4) In subsection (3)(c) ‘moneys’ includes tuition fees, registration fees, examination fees, library fees, student services fees and any other fees paid by or on behalf of the learner to the provider (or any intermediary of it) in respect of enrolment on the relevant programme and which relate to the provision of education, training and related services.
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(5) Where—
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(a) a protected programme default event occurs, and
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(b) to the extent that the steps the Authority is authorised to take under subsection (3) would not result (or, if such steps have been taken by it, have not resulted) in a similar outcome for the learner concerned,
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the Authority shall make all reasonable efforts for the purpose specified in subsection (6) to ensure that an alternative programme of education, provided by another provider, is made available to each learner enrolled on the relevant programme.
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(6) The purpose referred to in subsection (5) is to ensure that the learner may have a reasonable opportunity to complete a programme of education and training similar to that commenced with the original provider.
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(7) The Authority may, for the purposes of defrayments (from moneys standing to the credit of the Learner Protection Fund) that are referred to in subsection (3)(b), establish criteria by reference to which it shall determine whether a particular programme is a similar one to the relevant programme concerned. The Authority shall publish the criteria so established by it in such form and manner as it thinks appropriate (including on the internet).
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(8) The amount of any defrayment or refund (from moneys standing to the credit of the Learner Protection Fund) under subsection (3), in relation to a protected programme default event, may be recovered from the provider of the relevant programme by the Authority as a simple contract debt in any court of competent jurisdiction.
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(9) Any amount recovered by the Authority under subsection (8) shall be paid into, or disposed of for the benefit of, the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may determine.
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(10) In addition to what is provided in the preceding subsections concerning payments from the Learner Protection Fund, the Authority—
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(a) may pay from moneys standing to the credit of the Fund such sums as it thinks appropriate to defray expenses incurred by it in the establishment, maintenance or operation of the Fund or incurred by it on the occasion of the performance by it of any other function under this Act, the performance of which, on the occasion concerned, the Authority is satisfied was, lawfully, for the purpose of the protection of enrolled learners (whether in general or in particular), and
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(b) shall pay to the Minister from moneys standing to the credit of the Fund, upon the Minister giving a direction in that behalf, such sums as the Minister considers appropriate and specifies in the direction for the purpose of repaying sums paid into the Fund under section 66A(4) (and moneys received by the Minister under this paragraph shall be paid into, or disposed of for the benefit of, the Exchequer in such manner as the Minister, with the consent of the Minister for Public Expenditure and Reform, may determine).
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(11) The Authority shall not later than 31 March in each year prepare and publish, in such form and manner as it considers appropriate, a report in respect of operation of the Learner Protection Fund during the preceding year and, in particular, in respect of the exercise, during that year, by the Authority of the power of defrayment or refund (from moneys standing to the credit of that Fund) under subsection (3).
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(12) If the date of the establishment under subsection (1) of the Learner Protection Fund falls in the period from 1 October to the following 31 December, the first report under subsection (11) shall be prepared and published not later than the 31 March in the second year following the year in which that date of establishment day falls and shall relate to that last-mentioned year and the following year.
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(13) The Authority shall furnish a copy of a report under subsection (11) to the Minister and the Minister shall cause a copy of it to be laid before each House of the Oireachtas.
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(14) No information shall be included in a report under subsection (11) that could reasonably lead to the disclosure of the identity of any learner nor (in respect of a case of a refund dealt with in the report and which refund has been made to the person who paid the original moneys concerned on behalf of a learner) the identity of any other such person.
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(15) On the expiry of 5 years after the date of the establishment under subsection (1) of the Learner Protection Fund, and on every 5th anniversary thereafter, the Authority shall conduct a review of the operation of that Fund and in conducting that review shall invite, and have regard to, submissions from obligated providers in relation to that Fund’s operation and the matters specified in subsection (16) relating to the annual charge.
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(16) A review under subsection (15) shall extend to the consideration by the Authority of the annual charge and the extent to which the provision made by this Part for such a charge, and the amount thereof as it stands prescribed for the time being, enable the giving of effective financial assistance to enrolled learners in the circumstances specified in this Part.
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(17) The Authority shall prepare and publish a report setting out the results of a review under subsection (15) and subsections (13) and (14) shall apply to such a report as they apply to a report under subsection (11).”.
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