Mary Coughlan (Donegal South West, Fianna Fail)

First, if one has an entitlement to a grant, that entitlement will continue. The determination will be whether one is entitled to the higher non-adjacent grant or the adjacent grant. If one has a non-adjacent grant at present and one is now outside that criterion, one will continue to have access to the adjacent grant. Second, there is the issue that mature students received the higher non-adjacent grant, regardless of where they lived even if it was beside the college.

Third, the financial situation of the country is such that we are not in a position to escape savings in the Department of Education and Skills. We had to prioritise mainstream classroom teaching and, to the best of our ability, deal with the demographic issue. There is, correctly, an increase in our third level student population. We must ensure good quality of education and outcome at third level. Furthermore, the capacity of the State to continue to fund third level education is now stretched and we must examine new ways of doing it.

I accept what the Deputy is saying but it is important to assure people that they will not lose the grant if they are eligible for it. The issue is the type of grant for which they are eligible.

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