John O'Mahony (Mayo, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for selecting this urgent matter. It is no reflection on the Minister of State, Deputy Kelleher, because he needs answers as badly as I do, but I am disappointed not to see the Minister here. He was in the House one hour ago to cast a vote. The only thing that will excuse him is if he has gone to the bank to get the money to pay to these students.

I said this is an urgent matter but to be honest, it is a crisis. Thousands of students applied for maintenance grants in August but many of their applications have not been processed. Those whose applications have been processed have not got any money yet. This is intolerable and it relates to every constituency. Deputy Brian Hayes, our party spokesman on education, attempted to raise this matter this morning on the Order of Business. The Minister, or somebody on his behalf, needs to give answers to the students and the parents of Ireland who are waiting out there this evening. The delays being experienced right around the country are completely unacceptable. That many students will have to wait until 2010 is a farce. Yesterday's papers noted that there are now more students in Ireland than farmers. This perfectly illustrates my point. Many of the parents of these students are farmers who have seen their incomes slashed or else are people who have lost their jobs in the construction industry or the service industry. They need to have these grants paid out immediately.

Many county councils are advising students to get the money to bridge the gap either from their parents or to take out loans. The banks are not giving money to anyone and particularly not to students. If students could get the money from their parents in the first place, they would not be eligible for grants. This situation would be funny if it was not so serious and it needs to be addressed immediately by the Government.

I hope I will not be given the usual platitudes and spin that are used in replies from Ministers. Students have enough stress and trauma coming up to their exams. Many of them have been told they will not be allowed sit their exams or to attend lectures in some cases if they have not registered or do not pay the registration fee immediately. Payment of grants has been slow in other years but, at this stage of the year, students would have received the first portion of their grant and would be awaiting the second portion. This situation cannot be defended.

The Student Support Bill was introduced in this House in 2008 and it has not been progressed by the Minister or the Government since then. This Bill was published over a year ago but has not yet reached Committee Stage and this is a disgrace. This mess with the grants could have been averted if that Bill had been passed. We need action today on these grants and we need action immediately on the Student Support Bill.

See this speech in context