Dinny McGinley (Donegal South West, Fine Gael)

Tá lúcháir orm deis a bheith agam cúpla focal a rá ar an Bhille um Thacaíocht do Mhic Léinn 2008. Ar nós na cainteoirí eile ó gach taobh den Teach, cuirim fáilte roimh an Bhille. Tár sé thar am go mbeadh an Bille seo istigh. Nuair a chríochnóimid an Dara Céim, tá súil agam go rachaimid ar aghaidh go dtí Chéim an Choiste chomh luath agus is féidir.

Mar a dúirt an Teachta Ring, ba cheart go mbeidh an reachtaíocht ag feidhmiú ag tús na scoilbhliana 2008-09, atá amach romhainn. Mar ionadaí phoiblí, bhí sé ina ábhar iontais dúinn le blianta fada go raibh dhá chóras i gceist. Bhí iad siúd a bhí ag dul go dtí oideachais triú leibhéal in ann iarratais a dhéanamh chuig an chomhairle chontae chomh maith leis an choiste ghairmoideachais. Chruthaigh sé sin deacrachtaí do thuismitheoirí, ionadaí phoiblí agus oifigigh an chomhairle chontae agus an choiste ghairmoideachais. Mar iar-bhall do choiste ghairmoideachais Dhún na nGall ar feadh deich mbliana, cuirim fáilte roimh an cinneadh atá déanta chun na freagrachta iomlán a aistriú ón gcomhairle chontae go dtí an choiste ghairmoideachais. Tá a fhios againn anois, i gcás deacrachtaí ó thaobh iarratais de, go bhfuil orainn teagmháil a dhéanamh leis an choiste ghairmoideachais, atá ag plé le hoideachais ag an dara leibhéal. Cén fáth nach raibh an fhreagracht iomlán ar na coistí sin roimhe seo, nuair a bhíodar ag déileáil leis na deontais triú leibhéal? Tá go leor dualgais éagsúla — ó thaobh bóithre, uisce agus séarachais, srl. — ag na comhairlí contae cheana féin. Mar sin, tá sé praiticiúil agus loighciúil go mbeadh an chumhacht agus an fhreagracht seo ag an choiste ghairmoideachais. Níl mé chun dul siar ar an mhéid a bhí le rá ag an Teachta Ring. Aontaím leis an méid a bhí le rá aige agus na cainteoirí roimhe. Mar sin fhéin, sílim gur rud mhaith agus céim ar aghaidh atá anseo.

An dara pointe gur mhaith liom a dhéanamh, the second point I would like to make, having welcomed the main provisions of the Bill, relates to the application forms for student grants. In July and August I and I am sure other Deputies and councillors are inundated with parents seeking assistance in the completion of application forms to apply for a single third level student support grant. The completion of it is worse than that of one's last will and testament. The applicant is directed to tick this and that box on the 40 or 50-page form, to skip the next page and continue on the following page and so on. It is a continuous source of amazement that we do not have the expertise in An Roinn Oideachais agus Eolaíochta and that the authorities have not been able to produce a two-page application form. They know everything about us now . We all have PPS numbers and so on. The authorities know our incomes, whether from social welfare benefits or some other source. Why after so many years has a simple straightforward application form not been introduced whereby applicants are required simply to fill in their income details from whatever income and submit the form? The task of the completion of this detailed form is a nuisance for parents and guardians. We are always willing to do our best to help our constituent but a great deal of sweat, worry and work would be avoided if after many years the authorities came up with a more simplified form.

Many of us met representatives of the USI across the road earlier. They were participating in the making of the union's annual submissions. We had an interesting chat with them. They come from different parts of the country and they outlined the difficulties they experience. The student support grant works out at about €80 for every week of the academic year. If one leaves home to go to college in Dublin, Galway or any other city, bearing in mind that having paid the rent for a flat or an apartment one must feed and cloth oneself, the level of the grant is grossly inadequate.

The student representatives gave us a table on tertiary education detailing the annual expenditure per student on core services; this is an OECD publication. The table lists 15 countries. At the top of the list is the United States with an annual expenditure of €17,700 per pupil per year. Below it are listed Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Austria and Brazil, which appears midway down the list. New Zealand, Finland and Belgium are also listed and of the 15 countries listed Ireland appears at the bottom of the list.

There is a strong correlation between expenditure in education and economic development. It has almost become a cliche that our Celtic tiger economy was due to the huge investment made in education here, starting with free secondary education in the 1960s up to the investment to present day. I do not dispute that for one minute. In terms of economic competitiveness, we are falling behind the rest of the world, including our competitors in Europe and in the Third World. We will erect economic difficulties for ourselves in the future if we do not continue to invest in education.

A Sunday newspaper, The Sunday Times if I am not mistaken, prints a league of world universities every year. It starts off with Harvard and then Berkeley and if it covers Europe, probably Oxford and Cambridge are at the top of the list. There is no reason Irish universities should not be in the premier league of that table. A number of universities figure in the first 200 listed in that league. If proper resources are not allocated to our universities, it is difficult for them to compete with world class universities. These tables are issued annually and if our universities cannot compete with them, it is a cause for concern.

My experience at university differed from the majority of people who had the advantage of going to college. My first third level college was St. Patrick's Training College and having completed two years there in the 1960s I went straight to UCD where I spent four years. I suppose the Minister went to Belfield.

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