Jimmy Harte (Labour) | Oireachtas source

Could we invite the Minister for Education and Skills, or the Minister of State at the Department of Education and Skills, to the House to discuss the Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI, near-fiasco? The City of Dublin VEC and SUSI must clarify some issues that are cropping up in the offices of many Members. There is one that arises in Donegal, where many of the people go to college across the Border. A number of them were told that their fees and maintenance grant were covered, but a week or even three or four months later they were told they were not covered. In one case I am dealing with, the girl concerned intended to study pharmacy in Belfast. She was told that her fees would not be covered but that she would get her maintenance grant. However, a week later she got another letter stating she would not get her maintenance grant. This is a feature of SUSI and the Minister must address it. The only explanation I can offer is that the people who are processing the SUSI applications have not been properly briefed on the issue of fees across the Border. Obviously, 90% to 95% of the applications they deal with relate to colleges in the South. However, we have documentary evidence that people are being told in a letter received one week that they have a maintenance grant and possibly fees covered, but the following week they receive a letter stating the opposite. I ask the Leader to invite the Minister to the House to outline the training procedure the City of Dublin VEC undertook to establish who is and is not entitled to fees.