Parents of up to 80 trainee pilots, who lost up to €80,000 each when a Waterford pilot training college went bust, are livid at how the Government rallied to help out language school students yet left their children high and dry.

The Government will not be able to refund fees to trainee pilots caught up in the closure of their course because it could mean other creditors demanding similar treatment — with a potential cost to the taxpayer of millions of euro.

The families of students on a pilot training course which folded earlier this month are to meet the Garda fraud squad tomorrow.