Jim D'Arcy (Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Like others, I congratulate the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Deputy Fitzgerald, on the magnificent success she has had with the recent referendum. The people, particularly the children of Ireland, will forever be in her debt.

We have talk of another referendum but there should be a moratorium on referenda for four years because referendum fatigue is setting in.

Will the Leader inquire from the Minister for Education and Skills whether he intends to urge Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, to speed up the grant application process for third level students? Students and their families are reaching the end of their tether on this issue, which is leading to great distress. Members of the Joint Committee on Education and Social Protection met SUSI officials this morning and while I appreciate there was a large number of applications this year, with more than 65,000 first-time applications, and it takes a long time to get through them, of the 20,000 determined so far, more than 9,000 have been refused, which leads me to the conclusion that with the centralisation of the system everyone is trying to secure a grant. It is difficult but it is imperative that students receive their grants before Christmas. Will the Leader ask the Minister about this because, otherwise, students will have to leave the third level system?