The Department of Justice has told RTÉ News that more than 2,250 international students are registered to two private Dublin colleges at the centre of controversy today over the non-payment of wages to staff.
The colleges are the Modern Educational Centre (MEC) and the National College of Business Administration (NCBA) . NCBA is owned by Tauseef Sarwar.
His wife owns MEC. Tauseef Sarwar told RTÉ News that falling sales had led to financial difficulties at both colleges. He said the sale of courses had fallen by up to 70% in recent months and this had made it difficult to pay teachers.
He said there were around 600 students attending MEC and a further 170 at NCBA.
However the Department of Justice says numbers attending MEC have risen by 76% since last September.
It says the latest figures from the Garda National Immigration Bureau show 1,207 non-EU students registered to MEC as of the end of February. A further 1,047 are registered to NCBA.
Both colleges have not held classes for students for almost three weeks. However Tauseef Sarwar said classes would resume on Monday. He said teachers would be paid "in the next few days".
In a comment related to the industry as a whole and not directly related to today's controversy the Department of Justice has said the Government is committed to a programme of reform designed to ensure that malpractices in the industry are dealt with for once and for all.
It says a High Court judgment in January meant proposed reforms had to be revised in part.
The court ruled that the Government's plans were not legal. The Department of Justice says it is anticipated that subject to government approval these reforms will become operational in the coming weeks.
