Derek Nolan (Galway West, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I thank the Ceann Comhairle for allowing me to raise this issue. The Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, scheme was launched this year. It was an innovative and welcome move to establish what is effectively a one-stop-shop for grant applications, where the application can be made quickly and on-line. However, there have been some teething difficulties with the start-up and implementation of that system for support and grant applications.

Some of the people who have called to my office to outline the issues that are affecting them have been waiting a long time for information and, indeed, payment of their grant. It is now November and, as most people who have attended university or any third level institution know, the costs mainly occur in September when one must pay a deposit for accommodation and pay for books, clothes, stationery and so forth to get started. This is particularly the case for first years because they are starting in a completely new realm of education. Some of the delays are causing real hardship in terms of paying for rent, fuel bills, books and so forth. It is putting huge pressure on student assistance funds, as I have seen at National University of Ireland, NUI, Galway and the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, GMIT.

The Minister of State, Deputy Seán Sherlock, is a graduate of the wonderful university NUI Galway and he will be aware that the university caters for a large part of the west, which is more disadvantaged than the east and therefore has a greater number of students dependent on grants to fund their university education. The same is true for GMIT. As a representative of a very student orientated city, I ask that the delays taking place, which are causing such hardship in Galway and across the country, be tackled by the Department and the Minister's office to ensure that everything is done to alleviate the problems and clear the backlog. Account should be taken of the hardship being suffered by students at a very traumatic time for many, when they have just left home for a new experience in a new educational environment. This money is badly needed. The people who receive grants are, by definition, from backgrounds of lower economic means so they need the money even more.

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