Michael Healy-Rae (Kerry South, Independent) | Oireachtas source

That is a fair balance and a smarter way to assess a young person's progress. I consider that to be a sensible step.

Being able to afford to go to college is a serious issue for the new poor and one of the many problems they face. There are those who might have a very good job and who are on a good wages but who, because of negative equity and debt, week to week do not have enough money to keep the household going. When it comes to wanting to send their offspring to university, they would be automatically debarred from the grant. There are hardship funds in the universities but I hear that universities have a very small pool of money every year.

Some years ago, so few people looked for the hardship grant that virtually every person who applied got a contribution towards their fees.There are so many people falling into that category today that the colleges cannot help them all. Those who are eligible for the grant receive the grant. In regard to the new category of people, it would appear from the outside that their parents would be able to pay for their college education but they cannot. If one was to conduct an audit of their finances, it would be proven beyond all doubt that they cannot afford to send their children to college.

I have encountered cases of children who have had to take time out and go abroad to work. While I would not be slow to send a young person out to work, they have to interrupt their studies and go away for a year or two to build up some money to come home and return to college. That is happening a good deal. I do not know the solution but I am aware of the financial position. There may be two families living next door to each other, one of whom is on a much lower or no income, except assistance, and is able to send their children to college while the other, where a parent supposedly has a good job, is unable to do so. That is a new problem. Even going back to the 1980s, Ministers for Education did not have to deal with that problem. Also at that time there was not the same number of students going on to third level education. I believe no other Minister for Education and Skills has had to deal with this new issue.

Speaking at the IVEA congress, the general secretary, Mr. Michael Moriarty, expressed the opinion that there may be great potential to enhance the range of benefits for all providers. He suggested that the education and training boards could, for example, support stand alone boards of management in other schools in regard to the management of building projects and in the provision of IT supports. He also pointed out that some VECs provide psychological support services and suggested that there may be potential for extending such roles to all schools within an education and training board catchment area. He also emphasised the benefits that could accrue from co-operation, particularly in the current constrained economic circumstances, and expressed the hope that the future ETB structure would provide the local framework to facilitate a more co-operative approach between school managers.

The matter of psychological support services raises another issue which has been debated here forcefully, that of career guidance teachers and the recent reduction in same in all schools. That is an issue of serious concern. Career guidance teachers were given a wrong title as their role involved much more than career guidance. Their role expanded to assisting young people in difficulty. The young person who was in a dark place could speak to the career guidance teacher who would give the individual time and could be of assistance at a critical time in that young person's life. I do not wish to refer to recent events but the Minister will be aware of occurrences in certain parts of the country which were alarming. It related to the lack of provision of a career guidance teacher or another suitably qualified person to deal with a young person's situation. That is a concern.

Psychological support services are very important. Young people going through the education system are in a funny place in comparison to where we would have been when going through the education system. Given the alarming increase in suicide, young people get distracted, mithered and upset and need a level of support that would not have been required in the past. It is an awful thing to say but it is the truth - in the past people had a tougher mentality and it took a good deal to rattle them, whereas today young people appear to get upset more easily. Leaving the local national school and entering secondary school is a daunting proposition for children.

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