Jerry Buttimer (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)

I thank the Minister of State for his reply. I hope there will not be difficulties such as the one that arose in the medical-card streamlining process. There have been teething difficulties with the grant application process. I have listened to and read the Minister of State's reply.

I hope applicants will be communicated with. I fully support what the Department is doing and I hope the Minister of State and Minister interpret my remarks as constructive. What we are doing is positive and the process should be simple and straightforward. I hope we communicate the content of the Minister of State's reply today, but not just through social media and online. We must disseminate the information proactively, avoid confusion and make the process simple.

We have done a great job in changing the system and I hope it will not be difficult, complicated, cumbersome or confusing. We want to achieve the opposite. I hope the process we have set up will achieve this but I have a small worry that it will not. As the Minister of State knows, some 41% of undergraduate students who receive a grant have the student contribution paid for them by the State. This comprises a vast and significant number of people who will use the website. It must be made clear to them what is at stake. There ought to be confidence in the system and it ought to be easy to use. The Department has a mentoring network in place across the country and I hope it will work.

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