I thank the Chair and committee members for this opportunity.
ELSU was founded in May 2020, after the largest surveys ever conducted in the English language education, ELE, sector. We have since engaged with the Government and others on a wide range of issues. What followed the surveys was a period of frequent meetings, on average once a week until the reopening in 2021. Through these meetings we provided an online interlingual clinic for students to air grievances and suggest remedies for the diagnosable symptoms. This clinic soon became an accident and emergency department, A and E, with some situations moving quickly up the priority list and requiring much more urgent action from those of us who were scrambling to help as best we could. Adrenaline and the knowledge that some tangible difference was being made by our efforts sustained us, but the emotional and mental toll of having to constantly filter through some of the most harrowing tales to emerge from this invisible section of society was significant. This has not been easy for anyone and has been done on an entirely pro bono basis to date.
Upon arrival, one quickly learns that the 20-hour rule is all but a myth - a fable being used so that Ireland’s economy can benefit from a constant supply of educated but vulnerable labour who are less likely to know their rights and know how to complain when things go wrong. Students seem to be expected to first become fluent in “wink-wink-nudge-nudgery” before they can learn English. Most English language students work many more than 20 hours per week because they have to in order to survive here. Precisely because of these rules, many of them often have to work for less than minimum wage. Increasing the number of legal working hours from 20 to 30, as has happened in Spain, would help combat the exploitation of students and stop the race to the bottom.
From a bird's eye view, the main problem in the sector is that Ireland, after centuries of net emigration, has quickly transitioned to being to a country of net immigration, and the narrow interests of private English language schools are basically being given free rein to run the sector on a for-profit, pro-growth and pro-greed basis. The Department seems to interpret the exponential growth of this sector as an indicator of unqualified success, despite the very obvious constraints that should by right temper such ambitions, such as the critical lack of appropriately affordable housing, teaching staff and the refusal of the Government to do a simple income-over-expenditure analysis for those who arrive here and want to follow the rules by the book.
The rules state that students must attend more than 85% of their classes over the duration of a course if they are to be able to renew, but we know students are often expelled for dropping below an 85% average attendance rate, even if they are just a portion of their way through that course. To our knowledge, there is no data being kept on retention rates. Once a student pays up, they are entirely at the mercy of their school, and we have seen spurious reasons being given for the expulsion of some students, presumably so that more space can be freed up for new arrivals. There seems to be no disincentive for schools interpreting rules in ways that only suit their bottom line.
Qualified teachers, often with master's degrees, are being paid as little as €13 per hour by some schools, which obviously affects esprit de corps and staff turnover. Some schools use advanced level students without any qualifications as teachers for their students of lower levels.
As well as flouting the rules of education and justice, health and safety transgressions are also frequently observed, especially of fire regulations. Some schools have to make sure that at least one class is outside for a walk each day due to the lack of teachers and classrooms.
Students in this sector are the only migrants who have to shell out €300 every eight months, as opposed to on a yearly basis, for their IRP cards. A number of years ago, the sector was moved from a 12-month to an eight-month basis. This was to facilitate continuous enrolment that only favours the schools and those in receipt of the administrative fee. This clogs up the system unnecessarily and some interpret the prolonged delays in the processing of applications - sometimes the delays are longer than three months - as being part of the chill effect. Such delays increase the likelihood of personal crises and students falling between the cracks. Administrative delays in the straightforward renewal of IRP cards often leads to students losing their jobs, which can have obvious knock-on effects.
As we witnessed on 23 November last, this situation is being exploited by certain agent provocateurs, who we all know have been trying to seize the narrative since at least 2020. We can but speculate about the source of funding for these groups, their ultimate objectives and the degree to which they are being co-ordinated from outside of the State. However, let us be in no doubt that since Brexit, there are those who cannot bear to see Ireland be a success story and are organising here to try to turn us against each other. They utter, without any hint of irony, statements such as, “You’re in Ireland, speak English” - a moronic oxymoron that stabs every gaeilgeoir and student of Irish history in the heart. Even if there were equal opportunities for international students to come here to study Irish, the fact is that the current pro-greed model is hollowing out the educational experience for all.
The findings and recommendations of the Government-commissioned Pat King report of 2019 have not been taken into proper consideration and the situation is now worse rather than better as there has been a total lack of inspections between then and now. This is a matter we recommend interrogating with Quality and Qualifications Ireland, QQI, departmental officials and the schools. Accreditation and Coordination of English Language Services, ACELS, has yet to be properly replaced by QQI as the body charged with carrying out the inspections needed to maintain standards. Despite all of the hype about the proposed new international education mark, IEM, it has been years since any school in Ireland has been inspected and in this vacuum, the sector is festering and metastasising.
I thank the committee for the opportunity to come here today.
