Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail) | Oireachtas source

I thank the SUSI officials for coming in and for the briefings provided in the past. The experience of the past year has been unfortunate, particularly for students. It has been a difficult year for SUSI officials getting the agency up and running. The Department of Education and Skills did not think it out in advance. Much of the work done by SUSI in terms of preparing for next year and linking with Government agencies to reduce the volume of documentation that must be requested from students should have been dealt with in advance of the central grant authority being set up. When I questioned the Minister on this point, on how the process was set in train and the central grant authority grant awarded, his response was that his Department had very little experience in the administration of student grants. This lack of experience led to the awarding process. He said expressions of interest were invited by those who may be interested in setting up a central grant authority. It was up to those who came before the Department expressing interest to convince the Department how it should be done. The Minister said that County Dublin VEC was the most convincing and that he went with them. This led to the results in the past year, with difficulties and a lack of preparation in terms of how it might pan out. Miscalculations were made in respect of SUSI and the requirements to meet the demand but there was also a serious miscalculation by the Department of Education and Skills in accepting projections and in not providing the expected staff, as highlighted by the Accenture report.

The students in the country suffered because of last year's first years being a trial run for setting up the central grant awarding agency. It did not work on the basis of timely administration. What was the cost of SUSI last year compared to what it would have been under the old system, with 66 grant awarding bodies administering the grants? The calculation may be difficult. The upshot was that over half of the students awarded a grant did not receive a payment until after Christmas. That meant many students eligible for the special rate of maintenance grant, over €6,000, did not get paid until the new year. Anyone eligible for the special rate comes from a family whose income is under the €21,000 threshold. That includes social welfare families, those with no income or families on minimum wage jobs. Where a member of the family was in college and living in campus or rented accommodation, from September of last year until after Christmas the family was trying to keep the child in college when means were exceptionally strained already. People living on minimum wage jobs or social welfare had to pay for running the family in the homestead, pay weekly or monthly rent for students away from home, maintain them and pay school costs. It was unacceptable that the Government oversees the situation.

The Minister for Education and Skills, Deputy Quinn, suggested the move to a central grant awarding body was a demonstration of public service reform at its best.