Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I thank the Ceann Comhairle most sincerely for allowing me to raise this matter. It is with great reluctance and a sense of total frustration that I do so. Having tried to get this issue resolved for the past month, I lay the case before the House out of pure desperation arising from the Department's failure to resolve it. I ask anyone who reads the report of this Adjournment debate to treat this difficult matter sensitively.

While I welcome the Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Deputy Seán Power, to the House to respond to the debate, I am extremely disappointed that a Minister from the Department of Education and Science is not before us. The Minister of State is here to do his duty, but the matter I raise is of such importance that it requires the presence of a Minister from the relevant Department, specifically the senior Minister given that the case was brought to the attention of her office and she failed to do anything about it.

The case relates to the approval of an application for a higher education grant. Deputies have been around for long enough to know that all sorts of circumstances arise in the area of applications for higher education grants, people are turned down for various reasons and so forth. However, we always hear that discretion may be exercised by the Department in deciding whether to approve a grant application. What discretion is available in the Department and who exercises it? Does anyone in the Department have sufficient compassion to make a decision on this case, which I propose to outline?

The application was made by a young woman of 19 years who was born with cystic fibrosis and has been confined to a wheelchair since birth. At the age of three years her father walked out on the family leaving her mother to raise her alone. Two or three years ago, her mother remarried but died of a brain haemorrhage this year. The young woman in question won a place in Athlone Institute of Technology through the competitive process and is in a position to do a degree, but having started college she was informed she will not receive a grant from the Department.

Despite having discretion, the Department refuses to award the young woman a grant. For the past month, I have pestered officials who have requested further information or variously stated that a decision would be taken on the following Monday, the person responsible for making the decision was on holiday and a decision would be made on his return, or a decision would be made at a meeting due on the following Wednesday and the matter would have to be examined by the supervisor. While this prevarication has been taking place, the poor woman at the other end of the telephone line has been uncertain about whether she will be able to continue at college because without a grant she will be forced to discontinue her course. The issue has been repeatedly pushed around the Department without a decision being made.

The Department's appalling behaviour amounts to ill treatment of a young person and abuse of the taxpayer. If taxpayers were made aware of this case, they would instantly agree that it was a worthy one. The Department must exercise compassion and come to the rescue when circumstances of this nature arise.

The Minister of State is in a difficult position because his script has been prepared. I do not know what are its contents but I hope it will express compassion and common sense and give some relief and comfort to the young woman in question. Will it enable her to continue her education or will we leave the Chamber and make a telephone call to tell her to leave college because she has no future?

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I thank Deputy Paul McGrath for affording me this opportunity to outline to the House the position of the Department of Education and Science regarding an application by the student in question for funding under the vocational education committees scholarship scheme. I apologise on behalf of the Minister who, unfortunately, has another engagement this evening.

The Department funds three means tested maintenance grant schemes for third level education students in respect of attendance on approved courses in approved third level institutions and one maintenance grant scheme in respect of students attending approved post-leaving certificate courses in approved PLC centres. These are the higher education grants scheme, the vocational education committees scholarship scheme, the third level maintenance grants scheme for trainees and the maintenance grant scheme for students attending post-leaving certificate courses.

The higher education grants scheme is administered by local authorities, while the other three schemes are administered by vocational education committees on behalf of the Department of Education and Science. The process of assessing eligibility for third level or further education grants is a matter for the relevant local authority or VEC in the first instance. The decision on eligibility for third level grants is a matter for Westmeath VEC, the awarding body in this case. These bodies do not refer individual applications to the Department except in exceptional cases when, for example, advice or instruction regarding a particular clause in the relevant scheme is desired. It appears no such advice or instruction has to date been sought by the awarding authority in the case of the student in question.

Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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A Cheann Comhairle, may I read part of a letter from the local authority in question?

Rory O'Hanlon (Cavan-Monaghan, Ceann Comhairle)
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I suggest the Deputy pass the letter on to the Minister.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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If the Deputy indicates an instruction was given, I will accept his word.

Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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The letter states that the official concerned has reminded the student of her right to make an appeal to the Department of Education and Science for a final decision and understands this was recently done with the assistance of the access officer in Athlone Institute of Technology.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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I accept the Deputy's point. If an individual applicant considers that he or she has been unjustly refused a maintenance grant or that the rate of grant awarded is not the correct one, he or she may appeal to the relevant VEC. Where an individual applicant has had an appeal turned down, in writing, by the relevant VEC and remains of the view that the body has not interpreted the schemes correctly in his or her case, a letter outlining the position may be sent to the Department of Education and Science. Alternatively, as already indicated, the VEC may, in exceptional circumstances, refer the case to the Department for advice.

The Deputy will appreciate that it is not open to the Department to depart from the terms and conditions of the maintenance grants schemes in individual cases. I am aware, however, that the Deputy has been in contact with officials in the Department regarding the individual concerned. In addition, the access officer attached to Athlone Institute of Technology has been in correspondence with the Department.

The position is that, in general, students entering approved courses for the first time are eligible for grants — maintenance and tuition fees — where they satisfy the relevant conditions as to age, residence, means, nationality and previous academic attainment. Under the terms and conditions of the vocational education committees scholarship scheme 2005, a mature candidate means a candidate who is at least 23 years of age on 1 January of the year of entry or re-entry to an approved course. Mature students are categorised as either independent mature students or mature students dependent on parents. An independent mature student is defined as a mature candidate who is not ordinarily resident at home with his or her parents from the October preceding his or her entry to an approved course. Independent mature students are assessed without reference to their parents' income or address. When assessing the means of students other than independent mature students, the scheme specifies that the students' means and those of their parents or guardians must be below a prescribed limit. That provision requires that parental income be taken into account, irrespective of the individual circumstances, in any case where the student is not an independent mature student.

In accordance with clause 4.4.3 of the VEC scheme 2005, in the case of a candidate other than an independent mature candidate, the candidate's reckonable income shall be that of the candidate and of the candidate's parents or guardians, except where the candidate's parents are divorced or legally separated or it is established to the satisfaction of the vocational education committee that they are separated, in which case the candidate's reckonable income shall be that of the candidate and of the parent with whom the candidate resides.

It is understood that the student in question is seeking to be assessed as an independent student. To be assessed as such in this case, satisfactory evidence must be supplied to establish independent status. The Deputy will be aware that aspects of the case must be clarified to assess eligibility.

Paul McGrath (Westmeath, Fine Gael)
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I have submitted such evidence.

Seán Power (Kildare South, Fianna Fail)
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Officials of the Department of Education and Science will be in direct contact with the awarding authority to make progress in the examination of this case.

I thank Deputy McGrath for raising the matter and for presenting the case so well. It appears there is some conflict in the reply I have given. I will inquire tomorrow on the Deputy's behalf and contact him again. I wish him every success with his representation on behalf of what, judging by the evidence he has given, appears to be a very worthy and deserving case.