Seán Kyne (Galway West, Fine Gael)

I thank the Ceann Comhairle's office for affording me the opportunity to speak on this issue.

I appreciate the grave financial difficulties currently facing us, caused by reasons already known and spoken of at length in this Chamber and outside. I acknowledge the commitment and dedication of the Minister, Deputy Quinn, and the Ministers of State, Deputies Cannon and Sherlock, who are working hard to maintain educational supports and best utilise stretched budgets in the face of diminished resources.

Despite the very regrettable changes to the levels of grants, I welcome that none of the measures being taken will result in the loss of a grant for a student or a student becoming ineligible for one. I also acknowledge the efforts of the Minister and Ministers of State to introduce measures to create efficiencies in the areas of administration, such as the online application method for grants and the creation of a single grant-awarding body, the City of Dublin VEC. However, I sincerely hope that this centralisation will prove more successful than that of the drug payment scheme under the HSE which has been centralised in Dublin but has more than doubled the waiting time for reimbursements to eligible citizens. However, sin scéal eile and I will pursue that matter on another occasion. Such efficiencies in the administration of the grant system can and will minimise the impact on the rates of grant payments. I am sure the Minister of State, Deputy Cannon, with whom I served on Galway County Council a few years ago, will remember the delays in the processing of grants, so I hope the change will be a positive one

The one measure of great concern to me and a number of constituents in Galway West, however, is the ending of the automatic entitlement to the non-adjacent grant for mature students. This is unfair and at the very least there is a need to enable mature students who are pursuing educational courses to retain their funding grants at the current non-adjacent rate. Mature students have made significant investments in furthering their education, and acquiring new skills and knowledge while at the same time having other commitments such a family or financial ones which other students would not have. The State has also acknowledged their investment by providing grants and other educational supports.

In 2009-10, mature students comprised more than 13% of the total student population with more than 45,000 mature students attending third level institutions. At some educational institutions such as NUI Galway, NUI Maynooth and Dublin City University, more one in ten students were in the mature category with the figure rising to one in five students for the institutes of technology. The figures provide a clear indication of the value and success of second-chance education and life-long learning policies. It would be unfair to proceed with a funding measure that will undo years of hard work and commitment on the part of students which may also ultimately deprive students of the fruits of their investment.

If, as may be the case for thousands of mature students, a person has to drop out of an educational programme owing to the financial hardship the loss of the non-adjacent grant would bring, the State would also stand to suffer the financial consequences of the increased strain on the social welfare system. For the sake of saving a few thousand euro, therefore, the State would end up paying five times this amount in jobseekers benefits or allowances and the supplementary benefits that the former mature student would now have to seek. It would be a case of being penny rich but pound foolish and I ask the Minister to reconsider the measure for all current and perspective mature students but in particular for those who currently attend third level educational institutions in Galway and across the State.

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