Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle most sincerely for allowing me to raise this matter. It is with great reluctance and a sense of total frustration that I do so. Having tried to get this issue resolved for the past month, I lay the case before the House out of pure desperation arising from the Department's failure to resolve it. I ask anyone who reads the report of this Adjournment debate to treat this difficult matter sensitively.

While I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, to the House to respond to the debate, I am extremely disappointed that a Minister from the Department of Education and Science is not before us. The Minister of State is here to do his duty, but the matter I raise is of such importance that it requires the presence of a Minister from the relevant Department, specifically the senior Minister given that the case was brought to the attention of her office and she failed to do anything about it.

The case relates to the approval of an application for a higher education grant. Deputies have been around for long enough to know that all sorts of circumstances arise in the area of applications for higher education grants, people are turned down for various reasons and so forth. However, we always hear that discretion may be exercised by the Department in deciding whether to approve a grant application. What discretion is available in the Department and who exercises it? Does anyone in the Department have sufficient compassion to make a decision on this case, which I propose to outline?

The application was made by a young woman of 19 years who was born with cystic fibrosis and has been confined to a wheelchair since birth. At the age of three years her father walked out on the family leaving her mother to raise her alone. Two or three years ago, her mother remarried but died of a brain haemorrhage this year. The young woman in question won a place in Athlone Institute of Technology through the competitive process and is in a position to do a degree, but having started college she was informed she will not receive a grant from the Department.

Despite having discretion, the Department refuses to award the young woman a grant. For the past month, I have pestered officials who have requested further information or variously stated that a decision would be taken on the following Monday, the person responsible for making the decision was on holiday and a decision would be made on his return, or a decision would be made at a meeting due on the following Wednesday and the matter would have to be examined by the supervisor. While this prevarication has been taking place, the poor woman at the other end of the telephone line has been uncertain about whether she will be able to continue at college because without a grant she will be forced to discontinue her course. The issue has been repeatedly pushed around the Department without a decision being made.

The Department's appalling behaviour amounts to ill treatment of a young person and abuse of the taxpayer. If taxpayers were made aware of this case, they would instantly agree that it was a worthy one. The Department must exercise compassion and come to the rescue when circumstances of this nature arise.

The Minister of State is in a difficult position because his script has been prepared. I do not know what are its contents but I hope it will express compassion and common sense and give some relief and comfort to the young woman in question. Will it enable her to continue her education or will we leave the Chamber and make a telephone call to tell her to leave college because she has no future?

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