Jan O'Sullivan (Limerick East, Labour)

I welcome the fact that there is a Bill on the proposed legislative programme and that the Minister hopes to have some proposals in place by the autumn. I say this in the context of a press statement, dated 10 September 1997, when the then Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Martin, said he hoped to have a system in place from late 1998 to early 1999. This has obviously been going on for a long time. Undoubtedly, it throws up inequalities.

Has the Minister any timescale in mind from September onwards when she expects to be able to implement the proposals? I sought information through parliamentary questions, as did my colleague, Deputy Burton, on the socio-economic breakdown of grant recipients and the latest data we have is from 2002, which is relatively old. Is there any attempt within the Department to collate that information on a more up to date basis?

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