Séamus Healy (Tipperary South, Workers and Unemployed Action Group) | Oireachtas source

Last night, we heard the Minister apologise to the country for this "fiasco", as Deputy Murphy has called it. I wonder why he cannot accept that the centralisation of services of this nature is simply wrong and that the Government made a mistake when it centralised this service. This service should be provided locally so applicants can interact with those providing the service. The key problem in the case of SUSI is that there is no way for candidates and their parents to interact with the service itself. When one contacts SUSI, one cannot get past the receptionist to speak to someone else. This service should be provided at local county council or VEC offices, where applicants can speak to those providing the service. Unfortunately, this Government, like its predecessor, has bought into a culture and an ethos which believes that centralisation is the best thing to do and big is always best. Big is not always best, however. It is certainly not best in the case of services of this nature. It is the wrong option. We should revert to the provision of these services at local level, even if it costs a little more.

One of the arguments for this system was that it would cost €5 million less than the old system. That was when it was not intended to provide the resources required, but now additional staff have to be brought on board to provide the service. I remind the House that we are talking about first-year applicants only. Students in the second, third and subsequent years of their courses are still being looked after at local level. This is a service that should be provided locally. Students who have called to my constituency office have told me they are no longer in a position to use IT services and cannot be registered permanently. I know of older students on back to education schemes who have been told by their local social welfare offices that their payments will be cut off if they do not register permanently. It is time to acknowledge that these services should be provided and properly resourced at local level.

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