John Connolly (Galway West, Fianna Fail)

A lot of the questions I intended to ask have already been asked by other members. Similar to other members, I welcome the Supplementary Estimates and the additional funding for the provision of courses for those health and social care disciplines in particular. Their importance has been stressed by other members. The Minister mentioned the additional nursing course in Maynooth. Nursing remains one of the areas for which we provide a significant number of work permits to people coming to this country. There is a huge demand for nurses. Community nursing facilities around the country are struggling to maintain their units at full capacity due to the shortage of nurses. For this reason, I welcome that new course and I hope we can do more in that area in the coming years.

I have one quick question regarding the additional €13.6 million for the student support scheme. What proportion of that funding is fully paying for students’ fees? I understand the change to the grant criteria now allows for an additional proportion of students not to pay any fees. It is somewhere in the region of 30% of students. Maybe the Minister has better data. I note the Minister is thinking about something. I am just wondering about the number of students who now do not have to pay any fees as a result of the changes to the SUSI grant.