Trevor Ó Clochartaigh (Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

Ba mhaith liom ceist a chur ar an gCeannaire, ceist a chur mé cheana, maidir le díospóireacht faoi chúrsaí Leader. I have asked on a number of occasions if it is possible to have the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, Deputy Hogan, come to the House to discuss the Leader programme. There is a group from west Cork outside the gates today because they have certain issues with the way Leader is being administered, the plans for the future and the so-called alignment of the local development companies. Could the Leader indicate when that debate might happen?

This time last year we were all invited to a presentation in the audio-visual room from the group that was setting up Student Universal Support Ireland, SUSI. I have a letter from a constituent who has still not received his grant from SUSI. He is in an appeals process. His appeal was submitted 83 days ago, although SUSI's policy states it will deal with appeals within 30 days. He notes there are advertisements for the process for next year, the academic year 2013-2014, in which SUSI is asking people to make applications. It is clear that SUSI has been a disaster when it comes to administering these third-level grants. It might be useful if we could have the Minister for Education and Skills in to talk about that sooner rather than later so we can examine that process.

While the Minister is in he might also discuss the fact that more than 1,000 retired teachers were back for State exam jobs this year. The State Examinations Commission hired 1,049 retired teachers to ensure exam halls were adequately staffed this year, despite its stated wish to recruit unemployed and under-employed teachers for superintendent roles. We had a debate here last week on youth unemployment and it is hard to believe this number of retired teachers are being brought back when we have so many unemployed young teachers out there who need this work and should have been given first preference on such jobs.

Perhaps the Minister for Education and Skills might address both issues, SUSI and retired teachers, when he comes to the House.