Pearse Doherty (Donegal South West, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Cuirim fáilte roimh an díospóireacht seo. Ní hé seo an chéad uair a dhearna an Dáil plé ar an ábhar seo. Tá a fhios agam go bhfuil an Teachta O'Brien ag plé na ceiste seo le tamall fada. Tá leithscéal á ghabháil ag an Aire chuig scoláirí na hÉireann, ag deireadh na dála, as an mess millteanach atá déanta ag SUSI agus ag an Rialtas ó thaobh na deontaisí seo a fhaigheann mic léinn tríú leibhéal. While I welcome the apology the Minister has extended to students, it has to be said this is not the first time this issue has been debated in this House. Our education spokesman, Deputy O'Brien, has been raising it for many weeks. It has been the subject of a special debate during Topical Issues. Deputy O'Brien insisted last week that the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection would bring in representatives of SUSI to answer questions and that happened today. Why did it take until mid-November for the penny to drop and the Minister to realise there is something horribly wrong with the processing facility known as SUSI?

Why did it take so long for him to take a hands-on approach or acknowledge and issue an apology to students? The fact the Minister had to be dragged kicking and screaming to that position means it is very difficult to accept the sincerity of his comments.

Other Deputies have referred in the Chamber to the impact this is having on individual students. I want to pick up on a point made by Deputy O'Brien in terms of the mess and chaos this facility is causing. Our offices in Donegal town, Ballybofey and Gweedore have been inundated with people who either have not had their grants processed by SUSI, have had grants refused by SUSI in the wrong or have been awarded the wrong level of grant payment. I point to one example of a person from south Donegal who was awarded the adjacent grant. We telephoned SUSI to explain that the person is going to college in Galway only for the SUSI staff member to ask where is the town in Donegal. The lack of understanding of the fact south Donegal is four hours travel from Galway is simply not good enough.

Everybody makes mistakes but the future education of these young people is dependent on this system working. As we heard earlier from Deputy Adams in regard to the letter he received, this situation is not unique and people drop out of college every year as a result of delays in processing grant applications, which has been verified by students and the USI. Therefore, this is really a life decision, but one that is being taken away from the students themselves.

It would be different if this was just a glitch. For example, we cannot blame the Government if it snows tonight, all of us are snowed in and there is not enough salt on the roads - that is, if something unexpected happens. However, in all the years since I was elected to the Seanad, this has been a complete and utter disaster, including under the Fianna Fáil Administration. Students were waiting until January and February in some cases for their first payment instalment, and access to services within the universities and colleges was being denied. This was supposed to sort it out. There should have been a hands-on approach and an oversight role by the Minister and the Department to ensure this was happening and we should not have had to wait until the middle of November to start taking a hands-on approach.

I want to make one point to the Minister. The students of Ireland whose grant applications have yet to be processed by SUSI are entitled to this grant money under legislation. This is not a handout to these students; it is something to which they are entitled. They have decided to go to college, their income meets the requirement test and they are entitled to it. What the Minister should do is forgo his payment for the next three months and see how he gets on. There is a big difference between what students get and what the Minister for Education and Skills gets paid to do his job to make sure young students who want to be the future leaders of this country are able to get their educational attainment.

In my own county, students have been absolutely hammered. This Government increased the registration fees and one of the last dying kisses from the previous Government, and the then Minister for Education and Skills, Ms Mary Coughlan, was to extend the criteria for the non-adjacent grants. Some 700 Donegal students saw their student grants reduced by some 60% as a result of the previous Government's action. Some of them did drop out, and those who have struggled on are now in this system which is still not working. We and the students of Ireland deserve a better system than the Government has delivered.

I listened with incredulity to the Taoiseach today saying that the institutions should not punish them and it is the students' fault because they have not given the information. The Minister and the Taoiseach need to stand up and say they got it wrong, have made a mess of it, and are going to fix it. Waiting until the end of December or the start of next year is simply not good enough.

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