Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour) | Oireachtas source

I move amendment No. 2:

To delete all words after "Dáil Éireann" and substitute the following:"notes that:

— the annual cost of attending college increased by over 950% during Fianna Fáil’s time in office, from €190 in 1996-97 to €2,000 in 2011-12, effectively bringing to an end the era of free third level education in Ireland;

— sixty-six bodies around the country were previously tasked with the awarding of student grants – a system which involved significant duplication of functions and under which students in many parts of the country faced very significant delays in receiving student grants; and

— arising from its disastrous economic mismanagement of the public finances, the previous Government oversaw cuts to the staffing of primary schools, the dismantling of schemes to support those from Traveller backgrounds, reductions to the additional teaching posts for children who require support to learn English and the introduction of a cap on the number of special needs assistants, SNAs, who could be employed in schools;

further notes that:

— the Government continues to exempt more than 40% of students from any requirement to pay the student contribution, as well as providing tens of thousands of students with maintenance grants to assist with the costs of third level education; and

— the Government has protected the overall number of SNAs and resource seachers in schools, is rolling out high-speed broadband to every post-primary school in Ireland and has created programmes such as Springboard and the Labour Market Education and Training Fund that will provide more quality education places for those who are looking for work or seeking to upskill;

recognises that:

— there have been some delays with the awarding of grants by the newly established Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, service;

— the City of Dublin Vocational Education Committee has arranged for the employment of additional staff by SUSI to bring such delays to an end and to ensure that all successful applicants receive grant payments by the end of December 2012;

— the Higher Education Authority, at the request of the Minister for Education and Skills, has written to all third level institutions asking them to avoid taking any action targeted at students who are awaiting the processing of student grant applications; and

— the establishment of SUSI in place of 66 separate grant awarding bodies will, in time, ensure that students continue to receive payments directly to their bank accounts and that student grants are administered in the most efficient way possible; and welcomes the significant reform agenda which has been undertaken by the Minister, including a new national literacy and numeracy strategy, the establishment of the Forum on Patronage and Pluralism in the Primary Sector, the overhaul of the existing junior cycle, a new examination of the points system and transitions between second and third levels, the announcement of a five year building programme, the reform of the VEC sector and the creation of a new national further education and training agency and the creation of a new landscape document for the higher education sector."

I understand I am sharing time with Deputy Joanna Tuffy.

I thank the Fianna Fáil Party for tabling the motion for discussion. It is both useful and timely.

I want to address the issues which have arisen in relation to student grants in recent weeks.

As all Deputies are aware, I followed through on the work started by my predecessor when I was appointed Minister for Education and Skills, merging the 66 grant-awarding bodies into one new body known as SUSI. I still believe that policy decision was correct and nobody, to my knowledge, has challenged the nature of that policy decision. I believe the establishment of a single grant-awarding body will serve our students better in the long run. However, it is clear that we have had problems with the first year of the new system. All of us - not just Opposition Deputies - have been approached by students who are experiencing real difficulties because of delays in processing their grant applications. Sadly, this has been a repeat of the difficulties of previous years, and we all thought the new system would work better than it has done.

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