Ulick Burke (Galway East, Fine Gael)

Cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille seo. Tá mé cinnte go raibh na Teachtaí Dála go léir ag fanacht leis le fada. Tá an iomarca ama caite gan athrú a bheith curtha ar na rialacha a bhain leis an sean scéim. Mar sin, cuirim fáilte roimh an mBille agus tugaim mo thacaíocht don Aire é, agus an scéim seo, a chur tríd an Dáil chomh tapaidh agus is féidir. Everybody who has read the Bill has given it a warm welcome. Grants and student supports have not been changed since they were introduced in 1968. Many grant applications have been refused on a technicality. It is hoped this Bill will eliminate much of the red tape associated with the scheme and simplify its application.

I welcome the reduction of the number of bodies which assess and provide grants to students throughout the country from 66 to 33. While I agree somewhat with Deputy Ruairí Quinn that 33 is still too many, it is a step in the right direction towards streamlining it. Aontas, the Irish national adult learning organisation, put on record that 3,500 people who wished to continue to third level education made contact with it during the past year. It found it difficult to access information or contact the bodies that organise the provision of grants to students.

Every public representative has come across numerous hard cases where people lost out on grants. In many cases, those who made the assessment not to award a grant did so for justifiable reasons as the applicants were not within the criteria laid down under the old scheme. If this Bill provides for an effective and independent appeals mechanism it will make great progress.

Deputy Quinn stated that the Department of Social and Family Affairs has experience in assessment and should take over the administration of the grants system, but that would not be fair. We see the confusion with regard to the Department of Health and Children and the HSE when it comes to the provision of services for children with autism and other disabilities. There is great confusion with the back to education scheme and the red tape has meant many people have been denied opportunities to return to education. I hope the VEC will have complete and comprehensive authority to provide for, dispense and deliver this scheme accurately and speedily.

The most serious fault experienced in the past was the delay in delivering final sanction and approval for grants to students and the fault lay with the Department. Anybody who was a member of a vocational education committee or a local authority knows that neither body was notified until late July of the regulations and eligibility rules for the scheme for that year. This was followed by a mad rush of applications to meet a deadline, which all stacked up but could not be touched prior to final acceptance and understanding of the rules and regulations which applied in a given year. As they changed every year, this was an annual hassle. Other relevant information for an application could not be provided until October or November and that caused great hardship. There is an onus on the Department and the Minister to provide at an extremely early stage, no later than the end of May, for the new awarding bodies the rules and regulations of the scheme for the following academic year.

We have heard many hard stories with regard to assessment and people believe that there is great inequality between the PAYE and the self-employed sectors with regard to the awarding of student grants. Consideration of the net income of everyone would allow equity to prevail as it would eliminate the facility of using accountancy to its full extent. If the regulations and rules were adjusted to take into account net income, there would be greater equity in the system.

The Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, has responsibility for lifelong learning, which is relevant to those who wish to return to third level education and part-time students. This issue must be tackled. However, the Bill does not satisfy the claim that it will be easier for people to access part-time education. It is important that the Minister of State influences his senior colleague, the Minister for Education and Science, Deputy Hanafin, on the necessity to provide part-time students with supports to pay their fees. As long as there is inequity there will be discontent and dissatisfaction with the scheme. If it takes as long again to make this change as it did for this Bill to come on stream it will be too late for many people. The economy cannot afford to prevent so many people from improving their capacity to better themselves. It is aspirational of the Minister, without follow-up, to make change.

It is important that the suitability of courses in all institutions providing third level education is recognised and assessed in terms of providing student support. One glaring omission from this is Hibernia College, Dublin. Many of its students, who, unfortunately, are classified as part time, must pay high fees without any support from the Government to qualify as primary level teachers. So many students have availed of the courses available at the college in such a short time that it has become a tremendous success.

I am open to correction but the Bill contains no facility to recognise an institution such as Hibernia College that provides the highest quality of teacher training, parallel to that provided by the established colleges such as St. Patrick's College, Drumcondra and Mary Immaculate College, Limerick. Hibernia College is eliminated from supports for its students, albeit they are part-time. Many part-time students in other institutions have also been overlooked. I hope the Minister of State, Deputy Haughey, will take personal responsibility to influence the Minister to reconsider this.

Over the years, various Ministers for Education failed to recognise the importance of a support college to one of our largest industries, tourism. Students who attended the Shannon College of Hotel Management never got recognition or support in the same way as students in other institutions. I accept they could later transfer from Shannon to complete a commerce degree at University College, Galway. The fees at the Shannon college were exorbitant but the training was second to none. It is difficult to understand why this was not a recognised institution even though it serviced one of our most important industries.

The provision for an independent appeals mechanism is to be welcomed. However, the first step in the process is an internal appeal. Considering the internal appeals mechanisms in the Departments of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food and Social and Family Affairs, it cannot be independent because somebody in the Department will overrule the decision of personnel at a lower level who gave the initial decision. The appeals process outlined in the Bill could take up to 60 days. A student having to wait 60 days for a final decision on an appeal could be crucial. As Deputy Dooley stated, many parents have been forced to seek private loans through a credit union or elsewhere to tide over their children.

This has also forced many students into part-time work which they are reluctant to do due to the pressures of the examination system at third level. Part-time work does not consist of just a few hours a week so students can survive and maintain themselves in the absence of their usual grants. It can often be similar to full-time work, which, it must be remembered, is often done after a day of lectures and participating in the normal college scene. It is important that the appeals mechanism is a fast-tracked process. As the Bill does not provide for this, will the Minister consider bringing the appeals mechanism within a reasonable timescale of, perhaps, a fortnight or three weeks?

Provision of extra resources, capital and personnel for the initial transfer of awarding functions from the local authorities to the vocational education committees must be considered. If this falls at the first fence, we are in cloud cuckoo land. The Bill gives no indication as to what additional resources the Minister will provide for the transfer and provision of services necessary for the implementation and administration of the proposed scheme. Personnel in the VECs are already operating schemes for which they have responsibility. We know their offices are cramped with mountains of application forms. In 2008, a modern system for applications and quick assessment should be provided which will not happen in offices with poor facilities. Additional personnel will have to be recruited to the VECs or transferred from the local authorities to ensure a streamlined and timely decision-making process.

An inspector with an overseeing capacity will be appointed to assess the workings of these offices. I do not believe such an appointment is justified. Every VEC and local authority is audited on a regular, albeit late, basis. This audit is the necessary watchdog that will ensure the application is as intended by the Minister.

I urge the Minister to consider the position of supports for part-time students. A commitment was made in Towards in 2016 for the exemption of third level fees for part-time students. If this Bill were to do nothing else but recognise the entitlement of part-time students to fees exemption, it would be worthwhile. Nevertheless, Fine Gael welcomes the Bill and will give it full support though all Stages in the Dáil.

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