Michael Fitzmaurice (Roscommon-South Leitrim, Independent) | Oireachtas source

Over the past few years, unprecedented circumstances have arisen because of what happened when the bubble burst or the economy crashed. People who were classed as having good jobs have gone through the misfortune of bankruptcy or insolvency. This is the reality. Living expenses of €28,000 are allowed. I know of a parent who cannot send a child to school. We are trying to help people with their mortgages and to get them out of the hardship they have gone through over the past few years. Must we keep kicking these families, who have gone through all of this and are trying to make a new life? It is not a child's fault if one of his or her parents got into trouble but it is the child who will suffer if we do not put something in place to address this problem, which has arisen in unprecedented circumstances, to help the children affected reach third level education. If we do not put something in place they will not reach it.

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