Gerry Adams (Louth, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Dúirt Thomas Davis uair éigin: "Tabhair oideachas dóibh agus tugann tú saoirse dóibh." Tá na focail seo chomh oiriúnach inniu agus a bhí siad. An aontaíonn an Taoiseach le seo? Students and their families are facing significant financial hardship due to the failure of Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, to process properly student grant applications. This morning, at the insistence of Teachta Jonathan O'Brien, the head of the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee, CDVEC, was before the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection and claimed that the system is working. This refusal to acknowledge the crisis is insulting to students and their families. Does the Taoiseach agree with this assessment?

An e-mail from one student who is still being assessed by SUSI reflects the frustration and anger of many. He writes, "Anyway, it is irrelevant now. I'm leaving the education system. I'm leaving a course I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm leaving my goals and dreams. I will most likely be leaving Ireland very soon.". Emigration is not a solution and plainly it is not a lifestyle choice. In a real republic, access to education should be the entitlement of all citizens. It should not be conditional on one's family income. This young citizen's plight is an indictment of this Government.

Does the Taoiseach accept that there is a crisis and that it is totally unacceptable that, as of yesterday, only 18,000 out of 66,000 applications to SUSI have been processed? Does he also accept that the Department of Education and Skills has mismanaged this entire process and failed to provide adequate resources to ensure that SUSI can do its job?

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