Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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To ask the Minister for Education and Skills when he expects the problems with student grants to be resolved and all students who have qualified to be in receipt of their grant; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [2839/13]

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I understand from Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, that grants processing is largely up to date and that completed applications are now being dealt with as they come in. The majority of the 3,700 students currently awaiting payment will be paid within the next two weeks, depending on their submission of bank account details.

Some 47,674 decisions have been made, compared with 40,513 at the same time in 2012. Although this does not take away from the delays experienced prior to Christmas, it is welcome news. Of the remaining applications, in the case of over 9,000 online applications, students have never sent in any documentation, and SUSI is engaging with those students to confirm closing out these applications. Documentation is outstanding in the remaining 10,000 cases. This is similar to the position in previous years and SUSI is actively contacting students to assist them with finalising their applications.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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The Minister has not given an update on the number of students who have been paid the grants. Whenever the issue has been raised in the Dáil, including a Private Members' motion on 12 November, the Minister apologised to students and gave an assurance that over 90% of those who applied to SUSI and expected to be paid would be paid by Christmas. The reality was somewhat different and, as of the start of January, only half the students who expected to be paid in total had been paid. That amounted to 16,000 students approximately, with 32,000 expected to be paid before SUSI finishes work this year.

Michael Kitt (Galway East, Fianna Fail)
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Does the Deputy have a question?

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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That is a further failure some two months from the Minister's apology, with only half of the people having been paid. There is a constant tenor running through the responses from the Department and the Minister on the issue over the past few months that what is happening is similar to what happened in other years.

The Minister tried to give this impression again today when he stated this year's figure is not significantly different from figures for previous years. Many students are experiencing exceptional hardship as a result of what has occurred. It is a disgrace that at a time when families and students face so many economic pressures, the primary cause of hardship for students has been the Government's incompetence in failing to deliver student grants on time. How many students have been paid the grant? When will all of those who have provided the documentation requested by Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, receive their grants?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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The Deputy raised a number of issues which I will answer as best I can with the information I have on hand. Of the live applications where documentation is still outstanding, approximately half of applicants returned incomplete documentation, while the other half were requested to submit supplementary documentation arising from the assessment of their applications. On the basis that the latter group has already been assessed and only supplementary information is required for completion, this group has been prioritised for a telephone call-out campaign in recent weeks. In addition, Student Universal Support Ireland will continue to contact inactive applicants with a view to closing these applications as quickly as possible. Furthermore, given that the gap between those fully approved for maintenance payments and those who have been paid is some 3,700, a telephone call-out campaign has been undertaken to ensure awarded applicants submit their bank account details online as soon as they can in order that they can be paid as soon as possible.

Charlie McConalogue (Donegal North East, Fianna Fail)
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Again, I ask the Minister to provide the updated figure on the number of grants that have been paid at this stage. The Minister indicated prior to Christmas that he expected 90% of the total students who will receive a grant to be paid before Christmas. As I noted in early January, only half of this group had been paid their grants at that point. It is unacceptable that Deputies are continually informed that Student Universal Support Ireland is awaiting documentation. Many of the third level students affected by this issue are in desperate need of their payment. It is also unacceptable to try to create an impression that the reason for the delay is that SUSI is awaiting documentation from this group because that is simply not the case. Deputies and members of students unions are able to show that many students, having supplied documentation, have been asked to produce it a second, third and in some cases fourth time. How many grants have been paid and what percentage of the anticipated total number of grants does this represent?

Ruairi Quinn (Dublin South East, Labour)
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I do not have the precise figure to hand, although I believe the information the Deputy seeks is provided in a subsequent reply. I hope to be able to provide it by the end of Question Time and, if not, I will circulate it to the Deputy as soon as possible. Based on a briefing I received yesterday, I understand that in many cases while the documentation submitted to Student Universal Support Ireland contained the relevant information, it did not relate to the relevant year. Problems have arisen with the information that has been submitted to SUSI and ongoing attempts are being made to contact by telephone or online students whose applications are incomplete.