Eamon Gilmore (Dún Laoghaire, Labour)

It reminds me of the New Testament quote, "A house divided against itself falls."

This morning there was a good report by the education editor of the Irish Independent, John Walshe, which draws attention to the unfairness of the student grant scheme. For example, a bar manager may not qualify for a student grant because his income is PAYE while the bar owner may qualify, if he organises his tax affairs in a particular way in the year when applying for the grant. The Student Support Bill 2008 was to reform the student grant scheme or the administration of it in any event. It has been on the Order Paper for some time and raised by Deputy Quinn many times. The Bill was referred to the Select Committee on Education and Science on 20 April 2008, two years ago, but we have not heard sight nor light of it since. In light of today's report by John Walshe, when will this Bill be considered by the select committee?

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