Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)

I welcome the fact that students must have been resident in Ireland for three of the past five years. There is a flexibility and a practicality in that regard. I question, however, why this provision has to be put into primary legislation. There is much rigidity in administrative terms in this legislation, which we will get to in some detail on Committee Stage. Perhaps the Minister can reflect on this aspect. By all means she can assert the principle in the primary legislation, because it is right to do so, and I endorse the reference made by the Minister. However, some flexibility would be welcome, such as the power to vary that with the belt and braces of having to bring the regulation before the House for it to be specifically voted upon. The Minister knows how difficult it is to get legislation to the floor of this House or to get it passed and it is perhaps unwise for her to lock herself so tightly into a statutory system in this manner.

When means testing candidates, a distinction between "independent" and "dependent" students is made in terms of assessing incomes. That is to be welcomed. I got married at 23 years of age, albeit perhaps on my third salary cheque, which was not the wisest investment at one level. There are so many people on different scales. The 23 year cut-off point is rightly being replaced with the distinction between dependent and independent.

In the context of the Good Friday or the Belfast Agreement I welcome the recognition of the Northern Irish dimension. Would that we could recognise qualified Northern Irish school teachers who come from the Unionist tradition and do not have the facility to learn honours Irish, but that is scéal fada for another day. The logic of recognising that and moving in this direction is that somebody from Banbridge, or from Dr. Paisley's home town of Ballymena from the Unionist side, could in fact aspire to, without having to learn Irish which they would find difficult, becoming a permanent and pensionable INTO teacher just like anybody else, especially somebody coming from the Irish nationalist tradition.

The Bill standardises the information required on an application form for a grant to all awarding authorities. I welcome the introduction of fines and imprisonment as penalties for falsified grant applications. The benefits of the Bill are as follows. A large reduction in the number of authorities issuing grants and a general streamlining of administration will come if the Bill is enacted in its current form. Thus, within each county division, students will experience less confusion regarding where to apply and for what grant. The creation of one grant rather than three and a standardised application form will also reduce confusion.

The establishment of an appeals process for applicants refused a grant ensures transparency and accountability for the individual student. I support the observation made by Deputy Brian Hayes in regard to engaging and involving students in this process. The demand for student representation on governing boards of universities in the heyday of the 1960s gave rise to the fear that the pillars of Earlsfort Terrace would collapse with such a radical move. Sadly, most of the student representatives who subsequently went on to the governing boards——

See this speech in context