Clare Daly (Dublin North, Socialist Party) | Oireachtas source

Like Deputy O'Brien I was surprised by the statement that the system is working when it demonstrably is not. I do not wish to be smart about it but I expected an acknowledgement or apology to the students and families who are enduring monumental hardship as a result of the flaws in the system. It is not a matter of dispute. The impression being given was that somehow this was the fault of the students who were not capable of filling out forms. I know from my dealings with local authority grants over a long period that it can be the case that forms are incorrectly filled out but we all received much correspondence from people who seem perfectly competent and who stated that they did send in all their documentation. I refer to people who were able to get their leaving certificate and get into college and parents who have done it before and can read and fill out a form. They said they did send documents and that the delay in the process was at the SUSI end.

What investigations have been made? There seems to be a litany of missing documentation. Is there a flaw in the system in that regard? How is the issue of missing documents being addressed? One issue that emerged from the correspondence is that four or five months after an application was made an applicant would be asked for a final course acceptance form. I presume that is an additional document but people did not know about it. Prior to submitting applications people specifically inquired as to whether all the documentation was present and they were told that everything was in order, but later in the day further documentation was sought. What is the correct system?

We acknowledge that it is a new system but it has not come out of the blue. It was years in the making. We know approximately how many people will seek grants. It is not the case that some strange phenomenon emerged in the course of the year. Those issues should have been anticipated. It seems to me that a complicated process was adopted. Why is the City of Dublin VEC only going to Revenue now? The grant is means-tested. It is public money and the public has a right to know it is going to deserving cases, but much of the information that is being sought is with Revenue anyway. We heard a story about a person from Waterford dropping out of college because of what he was put through in terms of looking for a profit and loss statement for his parents who have a small farm income even though the tax authorities and the tax assessment would have provided the information. He had to employ an accountant to do ridiculous profit and loss statements. That just seems completely unnecessary.

A number of people who endured the hardship got the grant only to find that it was wrong. I received five or six e-mails from people on the matter and I presume far more than that were affected. Those applications are now back in the pile of applications that still has not been processed. How many people have submitted appeals and what is the appeals process? There appears to be some confusion. If someone is clearly getting the non-adjacent level but the mileage is obviously on the wrong rate, I presume that is an error that could be corrected that does not require a major appeal. What is the attitude of the witnesses to that?

I have a problem with what has been said about the plans for dealing with the backlog. A total of 29 working days remain between now and Christmas, including today. Even if we were to accept the figure of dealing with 750 applications per day that would give a total of 21,000 perfect applications. If we go on the upgraded estimate of a target of 1,100 applications per day, one would reach a total of 30,000. It is an impossible aim. Based on the plans that are currently in place the majority of cases will not be processed prior to Christmas. I would like a response in that regard, in addition to the number of staff involved because I am unclear about it.