Dáil debates

Thursday, 28 January 2010

2:00 pm

Photo of Batt O'KeeffeBatt O'Keeffe (Cork North West, Fianna Fail)

He will also recall that one of the fundamental issues that arose during the Second Stage debate was a grant system for part-time courses.

On the issue of having the administration and operation of grants located in a single co-ordinated area, we had to leave the Bill in its current form owing to the economic downturn. This meant we had to address various legal definitions and changes. It is my intention to bring the Bill to Committee Stage in this session.

Deputy Quinn asked a fundamental question about students waiting for grants to be paid. I am concerned that the payment of grants is taking such a long time. As a result of a 30% increase in the number of grant applications this year, the vocational education committees and local authorities are having great difficulty in processing applications. I am examining ways to make the system more user friendly in the meantime. I have asked my Department, the local authorities and the Higher Education Authority to examine ways to speed up the process. For example, I will make the applications available earlier in the current year and we will try to do much more work on-line with regard to applications. When one considers that 50% of all returns to the National Educational Welfare Board are made on-line----

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